Hero of Heaven
by HistorianoftheKais
Summary: To save an entire world from a mad man, one goddess has given the Kages a means to send Naruto to another realm. Will Naruto be able to discover Kushina's divine identity and can he survive the challenges of being her son?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I haven't done one these in a while, but none of this is mine as you all have the intelligence to figure out just by getting here.

Tsunade was surprised to find herself standing in a void. She knew that she had gone to bed a few minutes ago so this couldn't be real. Was she having a weird dream or had Madara somehow infiltrated Konoha and placed her under a genjutsu? She instantly tried to cancel the supposed genjutsu, but nothing happened. Either she was in a strange dream or she was under one very powerful illusion. The Hokage quickly looked around trying to find something that made sense in this void. She soon spotted four shadowy figures and decided to walk closer to them. It's not like she had a better alternative. After walking for what seemed like hours, or minutes as time made no sense in this realm the figures became clear and Tsunade found herself looking the other Kages.

Gaara was the first to speak. "This isn't an ordinary dream." He said it with such certainty that none of the assembled Kages would disagree with him. Gaara then continued, "I take it that all of you tested this place to see if it was an illusion and couldn't break out as well? Do any of you know of any jutsu that allows someone to communicate with others in dreams?"

Before any of the other Kages could respond, a sixth figured appeared. This figure was cloaked in shadows, but the gathered shinobi could see that it was a woman. That put them slightly at ease as none of them figured that Madara would try to trick them by pretending to be a woman. A person of his power and ego wouldn't pretend if he had somehow trapped their minds in this void. Although cloaked in shadows, the unknown woman had a regal demeanor and projected an aura of power. "Be at ease Kages," the woman said with authority. "I mean you no harm summoning your spirits here. In fact, I have come to help you with your upcoming war."

Ei quickly spoke up, "Just how the hell do you hope to help us? Furthermore, why should we trust what you say? We don't know who you are and this is not a normal meeting."

A massive wave of killing intent flooded the void directed at Ei. The powerful Raikage was reduced to a quivering mass of terror in seconds. "Were it not for certain circumstances, I would destroy your mind and leave your body to waste away. Mere mortals like you have no right to speak to their betters that and I have killed many for questioning me in that manner. Believe this foolish mortal, I would gladly kill you and all of Kumo for the insults you and people have given to me if the kami of this realm would permit it. Luckily for you, the kami you worship would cause me too many hassles if I whipped Kumo out of existence and I have a use for you." The shadowy figure than gave Ei one last glare that gave him a vision of a thousand gruesome deaths.

Trying to keep things for escalating out of control, Mei spoke up. "Milady, would you be so gracious to tell us your name? Any help you can offer us would be truly appreciated." Mei didn't like speaking in a courtly manner. In fact, no ninja leader had ever liked dealing with the courtly customs of the nobility. However, they all knew how to use it when necessary and Mei was especially skilled when it came to placating nobles. Every fiber of the Mizukage's body was screaming that this figure was a strong willed and powerful noble that needed to be treated with the utmost care and respect.

With a commanding tone the shadowy woman spoke. "None of you are worthy of knowing who I truly am. However, some of you do know a shadow of me. Under this aspect I will permit you to address me." There was a blinding flash of light that forced all the kages to close their eyes. After a few seconds, the light faded and everyone felt lighter as if a massive weight they hadn't realized they had been carrying was removed. A softer and friendlier voice spoke up, "There, you guys can open your eyes now."

Tsuande opened her eyes and her jaw immediately fell as far as it physically could go. She blinked her eyes trying to see if they were deceiving her. Despite what Tsunade thought would happen, the woman before her did not change. Nervously and in shock the Hokage said, "Kushina?"

Kushina Uzumaki nodded her head and cheerfully replied, "It's me Busty-Chan." Tsunade scowled when she heard Kushina 'unique' nickname for her and the other kages tried to keep their giggles from escaping. Kushina looked a bit sheepish and scratched the back of her head. "I'm sorry for how you all were strong armed into coming here like this. When I'm the dreamer I have a lot less patience for mortals; especially when they might cause problems for things a deeply care about. Kumo's previous dumbass stunts just shortened my dreamer's fuse even more than normal."

Oonoki glanced at Ei and said, "Don't worry. He shortens everyone's fuse so I can't blame you for that. However, I do wish to know how you're speaking to us? After all, you are dead." He didn't want to bring up that bit about the dreamer because it made no sense to the old kage.

Minato's feared wife glanced at all of the kages and then began to explain things. "You all must understand a few things. First, there are many realms to existence. Think of it like the Elemental Nations are one country among many with it being almost impossible to enter another country. Each realm is under the control and guidance of a group of deities. The realm you all live in is under the control of the Kami and they typically influence things by periodically incarnating themselves as mortals. Sometimes their avatars are well known and have massive influence on the land. For instance, Hirashirama Senju was an avatar of the goddess Benzaiten. At other times they have almost no influence on the course of events living simple lives like Susanoo is currently doing as a certain Ramen chief."

"The reason I am telling you all this is because I am something close to an avatar. However, the goddess that I am a part of is not a kami. She is part of another group of deities known as the Olympians who rule another world. I won't go into the specifics, but one day she got so furious over something that she accidentally sent part of her essence into this realm where it was incarnated as me, Kushina Uzumaki."

Gaara spoke up, "Are you some sort of divine Kage Bunshin then?" That was what came to his mind given what she had told him. Besides, Gaara figured it would rather ironic given how much Naruto used that jutsu. Something about the women brought his blond knuckleheaded friend to Gaara's mind. If those two weren't related to each other in some way he was a monkey's uncle.

Kushina smiled at her son's friend. "Both yes and no Gaara. I am both connected and separate from my dreamer. She is all that I am, but I am not all that she is. When she dreams she becomes me and when she awakens I return to her. I am not a mere role that she takes on, but I am not a separate personality or person either. All you need to know is that that both her and I are committed to seeing her son Naruto protected."

Tsunade frowned when she heard Kushina say that. "What do you mean by her son, Kushina? Are you speaking about the two of you being one and the same or something different?" Part of Tsunade was still having trouble accepting that the little brat she occasionally babysat was connected to a goddess.

With a wince, Kushina spoke in a pained tone. "You never realized something given that Mito already had your father and aunts before she sealed the Kyuubi into herself, Tsunade. All female Jinchurriki are sterile due to the nature of the biju's charka. Male Jinchurriki don't have this problem due to the more dominating aspect of yang in male chakra and the fact that male genitals are less connected to the charka network than female genitals. My dreamer stirred at my distress that I couldn't have any children and decided to help. She willed one of her eggs and a greater fraction of her essence into me so that Naruto could be born. Gods and Goddesses don't have DNA so Naruto's maternal DNA was copied directly from my own. My dreamer is in essence Naruto's 'primary' mother while I am his 'secondary' mother."

"The reason why I am telling you all this is because my dreamer wishes to transport Naruto from your realm to hers. Under normal circumstances she would prefer for Naruto to stay in your realm. It is his home and life for halfbloods is not any easier than the life of a ninja. However, Madara's interest in Naruto and the importance of keeping Naruto out of Madara's hands have changed her mind. You all want to send Naruto to a distant island to avoid detection. She can send him to her realm where Madara cannot reach him. To do this, my dreamer has created a Jutsu that will allow the five of you with her help to send Naruto to her realm. While she could do this without your help, it would be extremely noticeable and my dreamer would like Naruto's transportation to be low key."

"Now you five do need to know a few things before you agree to use this jutsu. First, time does not flow evenly between realms or even at the same rate over time. Temporal stress will destroy everything trying to move between realms that is not divine or has a firm grounding in both realms. As such, Naruto is the only one who will be able to be safely transported between realms even with this jutsu. My dreamer can and will be the grounding in that realm for the first transportation as he is of her essence. However, that will only work once. Naruto will not be able to immediately return to your realm because he will have to establish a firm grounding in that realm by his own presence which would take about 16 years in that realm. For all of you that will be about 1 to 3 years given the current temporal ratios between the two realms. My question is will you accept this offer?"

* * *

Naruto stood in front of Tsuande and said, "Okay Granny. What is my mission this time?" Part of Naruto wanted to be serious as war had started. However, he figured that his usual attitude would help Tsunade relax even if it annoyed her. It would let her know that something was going on as usual around Konoha.

Fighting back the urge to groan, Tsuande rolled her eyes and began to debrief Naruto. "I'll be blunt Naruto; you are too valuable for any frontline duty in the upcoming war. Intelligence suggests that Madara will send several Biju and the bulk of his forces to any location that you are active in during the war. He will use such overwhelming firepower that any comrades near you will be cut down and you will be eventually worn down for capture. If you're captured, then Madara can resurrect the Jubi and possibly conquer the world. That is a risk that we simply cannot take. As long as Madara doesn't know where you are he will be forced to spread out his forces allowing us to take them down piecemeal."

"To insure that Madara cannot get his hands on you Naruto, I and the other Kages have agreed that you are to be sent to a distant land that can only be accessed by special jutsu. Your mission is to remain in that land and train until either the war is over or we find some way to insure that Madara cannot resurrect the Jubi. This isn't an easy decision Naruto. I know how much you want to help your friends and you have become a very powerful ninja. Unfortunately, this war isn't about territory or the usual resources previous wars have been fought over. This war is about the Biju which makes you even more important than the capitals of all the nations in the alliance. As hard as it is for you Naruto, the best way you can help your friends and keep them safe is to leave."

Naruto felt dead inside when he heard Tsuande say that to him. Part of him could intellectually understand where Tsuande was coming from. Despite claims to the contrary, Naruto did know a good deal about strategy and protecting vital assets. Jiraiya had often played various strategy games with him to drive this home. He understood that he was a vital military asset because he was a Jinchurriki and that he was Madara's main objective. If Gaara or anyone else had been in this position he would be all for keeping them safe and far away from the battlefield.

However, intelligence and rationality never mean anything as far as the heart is concerned. Naruto had gone through hell in back between his battles and training to make sure he could protect his friends. After all the blood, sweat, and tears he had spent in the past Tsunade's words made him feel like a failure. To Naruto's heart, Tsunade's was effectively saying that he wasn't good enough to fight in this war and he needed to be protected like a little kid. Now Naruto knew that was not what Tsunade was saying or even meant, but that's what he felt like. With a resigned sigh, Naruto forced himself to look Tsuande in the eyes. "When do I have to leave?"

Tsunade calmly said, "You'll be leaving tomorrow in secret Naruto. I am already having Kakashi and Yamato create a set of training scrolls with different jutsus and sealing techniques to help you train. You are not to speak to anyone about your upcoming departure. I know you want to say your good-byes Naruto, but your friends will be safer if they know nothing about this. I also want you to know upfront that the land you are traveling to does not have the same rate of time as all the other lands. While it will only seem like months to us, years could easily pass for you. Believe me Naruto, this isn't an easy decision for me and I only agreed to this option because I think that this will help you and everyone else out in the end."

The Hokage then stood up, walked around her desk and gave Naruto a hug. She held him gently for a few moments and then let go. Tsunade then gave Naruto a small smile. "There is one good thing to all of this Naruto. In this land that you are going to there is a powerful lady who has a close connection to your mother. She cannot give you much direct aide due some laws governing her station. However, she has promised to give as much aide as she can give you. Part of this is creating the jutsu that will allow you to travel to her lands. Hopefully, she'll be able to tell you more about your mother since she and Kushina were far closer to each other than I ever realized."

That news picked up Naruto's spirits. He had only recently found out that the Yondaime was his father, but he knew almost nothing about his mother. Naruto knew that his father had a wife unlike many of his peers since Jiraiya had once shown him a picture of the old perv with his parents. Like most ninjas, Minato had been a rather private person and the textbooks in school had almost nothing on his private life. However, Naruto didn't even know his mother's name until just now. Naruto knew practically every bit of public information about his dad and quite a lot of personal information on him as well. But, Naruto knew nothing about his mother! The chance to finally learn about her was extremely tempting and softened the blow of being sent away.

* * *

Pain! Every synapse in Naruto's body was screaming in agony forcing him awake. Naruto's eyes frantically scanned around trying to make sense of his location. It was hard for him to focus as everything seemed blurry bigger than it should be. Naruto quickly realized that he was restrained somehow, but it didn't feel like he had been tied up.

How had he gotten into this situation? The last thing Naruto could remember was collecting his things, receiving a few scrolls from the various kages, and standing the seal that was supposed to send him… Naruto's eyes widened as he remember that he was supposed to be transported to another land. But, why did he feel so much pain and where was he? Naruto blinked his eyes several times as his vision started to get sharper. He saw several chairs in front of him and that he was sitting on a raised seat on a bench with a strap of some sort keeping him in the seat. Naruto's backpack was on the bench next to him, but it seemed a lot bigger than it should be. The last thing he noticed was a letter next to his backpack.

Naruto grabbed the letter and noticed that something wasn't right with his arms. However, he was still in too much pain to think about what could be the problem. Hoping for some answers, Naruto opened the letter and focused passed the pain to read it:

_Dear Naruto,_

_You are no doubt confused about what is going on so this letter is to explain things to you. The first thing you must know is that you were sent to another world and not another country by the transportation jutsu. By being here you are safe from Madara as only someone with links to both worlds can be transported by that jutsu. You are the only one are the only one to have such duel links because of your connection to me._

_The link I speak of is the fact that I am your mother, my son. The woman known as Kushina Uzumaki back in Konoha was a fragment of my essence. It was because I willed it that my fragment or 'dream' if you will was able to have you. First I want you know that I am proud at how you have grown over these years. Most heroes have broken under lesser challenges. The second fact I want you to be aware of is that I will only be able to help you indirectly. This is an ancient family law that I whole heartedly support. Too many of my relatives would abandon their duties or spoil their offspring in ways that create terrors such as Thetis did with Calibos if this law was not in place. I love you dearly and wish that I could raise you like a regular mother; however, laws only have power and people's respect for them if they are applied equally to all that they affect. If you wish to be angry at me for this, I cannot fault you. Too many of my relatives' children are enraged at our 'indifferent' attitude as necessitated by this law. All I expect is that you understand the reasons for these actions even if you hate them._

_Next I wish to explain your current circumstances. First of all, your body has been de-aged to that of a 9 year old. This is the age you would be at if you had been born in this world and so the jutsu shifted your form accordingly. However, you should find that your abilities are closer to what you had before traveling with Jiraiya due to my blood and the Kyuubi's influence. You should start to see some unusual abilities due to my blood no longer being suppressed like it was in your world. What abilities these are I cannot say. You are my first halfblood child as it is not in my nature to have them. The reason why you are called a halfblood and my true name must remain secret at the moment. The more you know, the greater risk you have of being attacked. For now, you may refer to me as Kushina as it is a name of mine._

_I have created a cover story for your arrival in this world. To the mortal authorities, you will seem to be the orphan survivor of a car crash. Your 'parents' for this cover are Minato and Kushina Uzumaki who died in the car crash. Don't worry about the mortal bodies as I altered two recently killed criminals to be body doubles. The crash will be used as cover to explain why you don't know many common things about this world as you suffered some memory loss. Sorry for having to put you in a foster home, but it is the safest place for you at the moment and will be far better than the orphanage in Konoha._

_When you get older son, it will be necessary for you to relocate to a place called camp Halfblood. This is because the enemies I spoke of will start to detect you as you get older. I did not immediately send you to Camp Halfblood because I do not want my enemies to know about you for the time being. My family is well known at getting back at members we have quarrels with by attacking their children. I myself have quite the reputation for doing this which means you will have target on your back once I claim you. Luckily, the same law that limits my ability to help you also limits the ability of my enemies to hurt you. Also, my family's influence in the area you currently are in is weak as opposed to how it is in the rest of the country. Don't worry about them using loopholes against you as I know all of them. I will be using the time before you head to Camp Halfblood to gain leverage over those who might wish to harm you._

_Love your Mother,_

_P.S. If you ever encounter Artemis and her group be extra careful. They don't like men and Artemis will be especially hostile to you for reasons I cannot disclose yet. She will help to protect you far more than she would other boys, unless she has more ice in her veins than I've ever been accused of having._

Naruto closed the letter and hid it in his backpack. It had answered some questions, but gave him so many more. What was his mother's real name? Who was this Artemis and why would she be potentially dangerous or helpful to him? How many enemies did his mother have and just how strong were they? Where was this Camp Halfblood and when would he go to it? All these questions and many more swarmed through Naruto's head.

At least one thing was certain for Naruto. His mother loved him and was proud of him. She might be limited in what she could do for him, but she was doing what she could. Naruto heard sirens coming and decided to close his eyes. He figured it would be better for his cover if he pretended to be out cold. As Naruto closed his eyes he promised, "Mom, I will be strong enough one day that you won't ever have to fear one of your enemies attacking me."

* * *

It took the authorities several weeks to sort everything out for Naruto. He soon found out that he was now living in the United States. Specifically, he was in the panhandle part of the state of Alaska. The foster home Naruto was living in was run by a woman named Ms. Valerie Frizzle who was a teacher at the elementary school Naruto where Naruto was registered. Currently, Naruto was the only person in Frizzle's care as he was living in a small town. The ADHD and the Dyslexia was a pain, but between his foster mother's tutoring and Kage Bunshin Naruto was able to mostly overcome his problems.

Naruto was currently roof hooping through town on his way to the junkyard. Ms. Frizzle allowed him to play outside as long as he was home by 5 pm and his homework was done. If his homework wasn't done, Naruto would be grounded for a week after playing outside. A small smirk appeared on Naruto's face as he quickly leaped across a street. Thanks to his clones, he never had to worry about doing his homework which wasn't that hard in the first place.

Quickly enough, Naruto reached the junkyard which was otherwise deserted. He knew when the garbage men would arrive to dump the garbage off and when they left. The relatively remote junkyard was the perfect place for Naruto to train to keep up his skills. Naruto immediately made a dozen kage bunshins and had them do various taijutsu forms. Being turned into a munchkin had shot his taijutsu skill straight to hell. Sure Naruto's chakra control had slipped some from being a little kid again, but that had been partially offset by the lowering of his chakra pool. The only thing that hadn't been messed up for Naruto was his physical strength. Actually, he was a little stronger now in his regular state than he had been as a teen in Sage Mode.

However, even that blessing was a curse for Naruto. His unusually strong strength wasn't off the charts like Tsunade's or Sakura's and was more at Gui and Lee's level. But Naruto couldn't turn off his strength and so he had to constantly train to avoid breaking something. Since his physical strength was so out of proportion to Naruto's other abilities, it made training even more difficult for him. Naruto was also curious as to why his speed hadn't increased at a similar rate. It didn't make any sense to him. On the other hand, it was cool to see from the clones' perspectives a 9 year old bench pressing a used refrigerator loaded with scrap metal.

Naruto did twenty bench presses with his improvised set of weights and then put the refrigerator back in its garbage pile. Nearly freakish strength or not, he was physically only a nine year old boy. For the next couple of minutes, Naruto did some different stretches to rework some muscles he hadn't used in a while. After that, he sat down to work his control of the Rasengan. Kushina hadn't been kidding when she said that his abilities would be similar to how they were before his training trip. Thanks to his now crappy chakra control it was impossible for Naruto to use a regular Rasengan without a Kage Bunshin helping him out.

"Shit!" Naruto yelled as he once again lost control of the Rasengan and he quickly shoved his bruised hand into the air to avoid creating shrapnel as he lost complete control of the attack. The energies making up the Rasengan lashed out everywhere slicing up Naruto's hands. His hands quickly started to heal until there were only some bruises. Once his hand was healed as far as the Kyuubi would heal it, Naruto sighed and leaned back against the ground. "Okay," Naruto said to himself as he tried to relax for a moment. "My retraining is going about as I can expect it to go. By the time I'm ten or eleven, I should be back to how I was before my sage training. Able to take out most Jonin at eleven years old, heh, I would have been so jealous back when I first turned eleven. Well, I've got forty minutes before I have to head back." Naruto then got up and continued to practice his control again.

Unknown to Naruto, two Olympians had appeared on a dirt covered garbage pile and were discreetly looking at him. One of the Olympians, the one in the guise of Kushina, looked down at Naruto's training with matronly pride. The other Olympian was Artemis in a teenaged form and her eyes were glaring at Naruto with burning hate, rage, and fear. Artemis whipped around to look at her fellow Olympian and her rage boiled hotter. Like a viper the huntress hissed out, "How could this have happened? How could YOU of all people have a halfblood?"

Kushina turned to face Artemis and her face hardened. "I already explained my avatar state to you. If you really want to blame someone for me going through that you only need to look at your father. You should be grateful to me. I could have put more effort into the jutsu that brought Naruto to this realm at his proper age relative to that realm. You would have had only two years then instead of the nine you have now. I could easily have hidden Naruto from you until it was too late."

Artemis eyes widen in fear and horror at the thought. "Please tell me that you aren't serious about that." The maiden goddess was shacking in fear at thought of that happening.

"The thought had crossed my mind every day since my pregnancy as Kushina began. I haven't been amused in the slightest these past 2,700 years of Aphrodite's attempts to bring your little wager into play. Even now, I am temped to arraigned for Naruto to have someone else as his bride so that you have to pay the forfeit Artemis."

Luckily no one noticed the goddesses so Artemis's humiliation didn't grow even worse as she fell to her hands and knees before the other goddess. "Please, don't do that. Have mercy please." Tears were freely flowing from Artemis's eyes as she brought her head down to the other goddess's feet. "I only made that bet to protect my hunters. You remember how bad Aphrodite and Eros were to them in those days. Dozens of them were raped by brigands 'in love' with them from the lust those two caused. It was the only option I had left to bring those two to heel."

Kushina nodded her head and her gaze softened at groveling goddess. She wiped away the tears on Artemis face and gently said, "I will not do that since you did what you did out of compassion for your followers. I swear by Styx that I will not arrange for Naruto to marry someone to force you into breaking your pact with Aphrodite. However, I will not give Naruto to you. The fate of your hunters rests in whether or not you can snag his heart. Don't forget Artemis, you have nine years to become Mrs. Uzumaki or your hunters are Aphrodite's."

* * *

Author's notes: Sorry for not publishing in a while. My muse has been going crazy on different ways to carry this story out after losing the muse for Heirs of Earth. That and real life have slowed me down. This story and An Unexpected Factor will be my current stories for as long as my muse will let me. Kudos to whoever can figure out who Naruto's mother really is. I will be revealing it in the next couple of chapters when Naruto gets to camp.


	2. Chapter 2

If there was one real downside to coming to his mother's world for Naruto, it had to be the dreams. Back in the Shinobi world, as he mentally dubbed the realm of the Elemental Countries, Naruto never dreamed when he slept. If Naruto had dreamed in the Shinobi world then he never remembered them when he woke up. That wasn't the case now. Every night it seemed Naruto would have a bizarre or terrifying dream. Occasionally he saw he friends back in Konoha talking about the upcoming war. Many times he saw events that seemed like ordinary things until he later found out that they were on the morning news having happened before he went to bed. Every once and a while, Naruto's dreams would focus on kids and teens fighting monsters with bronze looking weapons. Luckily for Naruto's sanity he was able to suppress most of these dreams.

However, there were some dreams that were so vivid and powerful that Naruto couldn't suppress and his restless sleep showed that he was having one of those dreams. In his dream, Naruto found himself looking at a silver doe. This doe had an aura of power and independence while also radiating a sense of supernatural grace. Naruto's dream self couldn't tear his attention away from the doe as she grazed in a meadow by a forest filled with old growth. Naruto wished he could get closer to get a better look at the doe, but every time his dream-self tried to take a step the doe would stop grazing and start acting skittish. Naruto contented himself to just watching the magnificent creature from a distance as he'd rather gaze at it in peace than lose it.

This wonderful scene ended when of all things a dove dived from the sky and racked the doe's head with its claws. The sheer absurdity of such a tiny bird attacking the doe never entered Naruto's mind as he watched the dove torment the doe. Naruto wanted to protect the deer, but found that he suddenly wasn't able to move an inch. He could only watch helplessly as the dove tore chucks of the silvery fur from the doe. Soon the beautiful silver beast could take no more of the fowl's attacks and fled across the meadow. Thankfully for Naruto his dream self was carried along as the doe made her mad dash to escape the dove.

On and on the doe raced as she desperately tried to escape from the dove's attacks. These attacks only got worse as a second, smaller dove joined in the assault. Naruto wished that she would find a way to escape her tormenters and he furiously struggled to move on his own in vain. Eventually, the doe came to a grape vine growing near a river and called out the doves. What she said Naruto couldn't hear, but he was grateful that the doves stopped their attack to listen. He watched as the doe gave the grapes on the vine to the two doves causing them to act like they were drunk.

Part of Naruto figured that the doe would now squash her tormentors since they were at her mercy or at least use to opportunity to escape. But that didn't happen and instead the doe turned around and pointed strait at Naruto with her hoof. For a second, Naruto thought that the doe was pointing to him. His gaze was then forced down and he saw a peahen sitting by an empty nest with a large eagle nearby. The doves nodded their head and then all three drank from the nearby river. Seconds after the three animals drank from the river the doves regained their senses and squawked with indignity. The doe gave off the sense of smugness and calmly walked back to her woods.

Seasons flashed before Naruto's eyes like the pages of a flip book and then the progression of seasons halted. This time Naruto's vision was focused on the peahen and not the doe. He watched as the peahen's shadow started to move on its own and left the peahen at the still empty nest. Unable to move, Naruto was pulled along behind the shadow as it wandered off on its own into a jungle. Soon enough the shadow made its way to a massive tree and started playing in the tree's branches trilling happily. The shadow's happiness was momentarily disturbed when the Kyuubi of all creatures appeared in the vision. Dread filled Naruto's heart as he saw the titanic beast approach the shadow and the tree. He desperately wanted to put himself between the Kyuubi and the shadow. However, Naruto was once again reduced to a mere spectator of what was obviously going to be a very grisly scene.

Things did not go as Naruto figured they would. Instead of Kyuubi destroying the tree and shadow, the peahen's shadow turned around and ate the Kyuubi. The sight would have been comical to Naruto if it wasn't for the sheer absurdity of the idea of the strongest biju being eaten by this tiny little shadow! The shadow grew larger after its meal until it was three times the size of the eagle that had been near the peahen earlier. After a few minutes the shadow wandered away from the tree and returned to the now equally larger peahen. The shadow and the peahen linked back together and laid an egg.

Suddenly, Naruto found himself in a dark and restricting room with the walls pressing in on all his limbs. Naruto pushed against the walls trying to get some space and found that he couldn't get them to budge. Never one to give up Naruto kept struggling to free himself by pushing against the walls. Eventually the walls gave way with a loud crack and a blinding light filled the room. Naruto quickly closed and then reopened his eyes with them adjusted to the light. A quick look around revealed that the room he had been trapped in was actually an egg. Naruto then looked up and saw the massive head of a peahen looking down at him tenderly. However, the weirdest thing about it all was he saw his reflection in the peahen's cow like eyes. The reflection wasn't human or even that of a fox like he feared, but that of a coyote.

At that point Naruto bolted awake panting in fear and shock. His breathing quickly calmed down to normal when the young halfblood saw that he was in his bed in his room. A quick glance at the alarm clock on his nightstand told Naruto that it was three in the morning. Naruto let out a small groan and said, "That's it. No more jalapeno enchiladas for dinner!"

* * *

Next week, Naruto and his classmates were loaded up onto a school bus to go on a field trip. Naruto sat near the back of the bus next to the class worrywart who all the other kids were avoiding. He then watched as Arnold folded his hands together and prayed, "Please let this be a normal fieldtrip. I'm begging you, just this once can we have a nice, normal, and safe fieldtrip."

Dorothy Ann, who was sitting two rows up and to the boys' left, let out a sigh of frustration while still keeping her head in her book. "How many times do we have to tell you Arnold? There is no such thing as monsters and our fieldtrips are perfectly normal. It's your imagination that's the problem." The other members of the class started rolling their eyes and joking about the worrywart. Naruto glanced at the rearview mirror and thought he saw Ms. Frizzle flinch for a split second.

Something wasn't right with this situation. Naruto could feel it in his gut as Arnold didn't feel like he was lying. He leaned in a little closer to the now glum kid and said, "What's going on Arnold? You're an honest guy so why is everyone acting like you're crazy?"

Arnold sighed and said, "Look, I know that everyone thinks I've got an overactive imagination, but I don't. I swear this is the truth even though you'll think I'm trying to pull your leg. These creatures straight out of fantasy always appear when we go on field trips. On our last trip to a ranch I actually saw a bull that looked like it was made of bronze and breathed fire. However, no one else seems to see these creatures or the other weird things that happen in our class. Have you ever stopped to consider the fact that we're the only third grade class with 9 students? All of the other classes in school have thirty or more students in them."

Naruto stopped to consider that fact. It was a little odd that their class had so few students in it. But then again, they were a small town school so it could have just been- Instantly, Naruto's eyes widened in shock as he felt the effects of genjutsu starting to affect his mind. He quickly made the ram handsign and whispered "Kai." As soon as he did that, Naruto's mind no longer found itself wandering whenever he thought about the class's size. That lent a lot of credence to Arnold's claim that something weird was happening. The young demigod then guardedly whispered to Arnold, "Yes, that is a little odd. Shouldn't we have some of the students from other classes so that all class sizes are about equal?"

Arnold's eyes widened as he realized that Naruto wasn't trying to humor him about his 'delusions'. The young boy quickly cleaned his glasses and then looked at the other seven students in the class. Once Arnold was sure no one else was paying attention to them, he continued his discussion. "That's just the thing Naruto. We did have 25 students in this class back when the school year started. At least, I remember us having 25 students at the beginning of the year. I remember there was a situation back in August when I could have sworn a group of giants attacked the class on the playground. The very next day, everyone who was injured was suddenly not in our class an in another class. After that we started going on fieldtrips every couple of weeks. Every couple of fieldtrips it seems that someone would get seriously hurt and then the next day they'd appear in another homeroom."

Naruto frowned when he heard what Arnold told him and his recent brush with the unknown illusion attempt. Something wasn't right here and Naruto wanted to know why. Part of him considered the possibility of a consistent attack by ninjas. However, that didn't make any rational sense. Why would anyone order an attack on a class of kids in nowhere Alaska? Furthermore, what kind of mission involves beating up children and then making everyone believe that they're part of another class? The possibility of this somehow involving him didn't make sense even to a mad man. Something was targeting this class long before he came to this world.

Very quickly Naruto's sense of justice boiled to the surface. It was the same sense that had pushed him to complete the mission in Wave even though he knew that he was hitting way above his limit while not admitting it. It was the same sense that drove him to do stupidly heroic stunts to save several lands during his training with Jiraiya. In fact, Naruto's late grandfather had grumbled many times that Naruto was stubborn as an ox when it came to correcting what he saw as an injustice. Whatever was attacking his classmates needed to be stopped and he'd see to that; even if he still didn't have his former strength. "Don't worry Arnold," Naruto firmly said, "I've got a few tricks of my own and some experience with weirdness. I'll help you get to the bottom of this."

* * *

The class's field trip was to a mechanic's shop in a nearby town. It was actually quite interesting as the shop dealt with custom cars and the owner was apparently old friends with Ms. Frizzle. Nathaniel Lloyd, the shop's owner, was a big burly man with a dark full beard that looked like it had been singed multiple times. Nathaniel stood a good foot taller than Ms. Frizzle as he greeted the class by the door. "Hello there Valerie, it's good to see you again." The duo gave each other a good strong hug and then Mr. Lloyd addressed the class, "Hello everyone and welcome to my shop. Now, this isn't just a regular car garage. As I'm sure Ms. Frizzle has told you all this is a custom car garage. Does anyone know what that means?"

Dorothy Ann spoke up, "Sir, I think that means to you work on different cars than most people drive."

Nathaniel patted Dorothy on the head and replied, "You're partially correct kiddo. It means that my crew and I modify cars for increased performance. We also will build a car from scratch if someone is willing to put in an order. Oh don't let the car part fool you. We also do trucks, vans, and motorcycles as well. Now let's go to garage bay number 2 where the boys are working on restoring a 1955 T-bird."

A thump was heard as the group started to walk towards the garage. By chance, Naruto was looking at Ms. Frizzle and saw her give Nathaniel a knowing glance. Seconds later another thump was heard followed soon afterward by a slightly louder thump. Arnold spoke up and said, "What was that Mr. Lloyd?"

Nathaniel smoothly replied, "Something probably fell in one of the garages. Why don't you kids head over to that garage bay while I go check it out? Valerie, could you be a dear and come with me while I check this out?"

As Nathaniel spoke, Naruto felt the effects of a genjutsu trying to trap him. Since he was on guard for any possible illusion it didn't get a hold of him. Naruto quickly glanced at his classmates and noticed that everyone aside from Arnold was walking towards the garage without a care in the world. Arnold was walking with the others, but his face was guarded and he was hanging back from the others. His reaction reminded Naruto of a wary academy student waiting for a surprise test that the teachers would occasional issue by randomly attacking students. A quick glance showed Nathaniel and Ms. Frizzle walking in the opposite direction for the class and towards the thumping sound which was definitively coming from outside the shop.

It was blatantly obvious to Naruto that he needed to use his clones to keep track of his classmates and investigate this situation. He just needed to figure out if he should guard his classmates himself or leave that to the clones. Naruto closed his eyes for a second and made up his mind. A Kage Bunshin popped into existence two seconds later and quickly ran after the rest of the class. The young shinobi then bit his thumb and ran the bloody digit across a seal hidden on his belt buckle.

The loss of part of his skills and ability had made Naruto nervous ever since he came to Earth. Sure he didn't have to worry about Akatsuki anymore, but there were his mother's enemies that might be calling with a bone to pick. A deck of playing cards popped out of the seal and Naruto quickly grabbed them. These cards had been altered by Naruto so that each one was an explosive tag. He had ripped the idea off of Gambit from the X-Men cartoon, but it worked as a quick defense he could prepare without trying to hide a regular shinobi's armory.

Valerie and Nathaniel quickly rushed out of the shop with Naruto following a few feet away. There was another, even louder, thump that caused both adults to frown with concern. Nathaniel then mumbled something in a language that Naruto couldn't understand. However, it sounded very familiar to Naruto and understanding was just out of the young Shinobi's grasp. He ignored the language puzzle for the moment was watched as Valerie nodded her head. Ms. Frizzle reached up, grabbed an earring with each hand, gave them a small twist, and then pulled the earrings apart. The pieces in her hands morphed into a celestial bronze spear and shield. At the same time Nathaniel grabbed a hammer from his tool belt and it morphed into a celestial bronze war hammer. Both adults took defensive postures looking out towards the source of the thumping which was now radiating killing intent.

Naruto's eyes bulged out in shock when he saw three 15-feet tall Cyclopes walked into view revealing that the thumping was from the monsters' walking. Each of Cyclopes were dressed like outlaw bikers and their skin was covered in tattoos depicting all manager of carnage. Their clothes all had bloodstains, some were old and some were quite recent. A slight shifting of the breeze almost caused Naruto to gag from the stench of rotten human flesh. The Cyclops on the right opened his mouth in a wicked looking grin showcasing his rotten looking yellow teeth was scraps of meat hanging off of them.

"Well, well, well" the Cyclops in the center said. "It isn't often that we find halfbloods up here in the north. Most of your kind likes to cower in that camp of yours. It's even rarer to see such well-aged meat." He then paused for a second to take a second sniff like he was some kind of wine taster. The Cyclops's eye narrowed on Ms. Frizzle in a bit of wonder. "Could our day get even better? I never thought I'd ever see a virgin halfblood of mixed lineage at your age." With a gruff glare to his comrades the center Cyclops said, "Deal with Hephaestus's child as you think fit brothers. The female halfblood is mine. If either of you so much as nibbles on her flesh I'll eat your entrails for breakfast."

"Sorry scum," Nathaniel said in a mocking tone, "Your dinner plans will half to change. Tartarus has a reservation for the three of your for at least the next decade." With that said the two demigods rushed into battle with the monstrous trio. Naruto watched as the adults quickly demolished the Cyclopes with experience born out of many battles. He noticed that absolutely none of their movements were wasted or flashy in any way. Their speed was somewhere between what the average Chunin and the average Jonin would fight at. Strangely enough, Naruto couldn't detect any chakra being used.

Nathaniel hopped onto the left Cyclops's arm and quickly bashed the monster's skull in with his hammer. At the same time, Ms. Frizzle blocked a punch from the right Cyclops with her shield. She quickly followed her block by driving her spear into the base of her opponent's neck. The Cyclops in the center quickly backed up to a wrecked car and picked it up. This was when Naruto decided to intervene and threw six explosive cards. Three of the cards struck the car and the other three hit the Cyclops. One was square in the head and the other two struck the center of the monster's chest. The car was ripped to shreds while the top half of the Cyclops was reduced to chunky salsa.

Both of the adult halfbloods whipped their heads around to see Naruto standing sideways on a telephone pole holding another set of cards to throw. Naruto surprised them by radiating a great deal of power and speaking with a firm, commanding voice. "Will someone explain to me what is going on and why monsters out of Greek Mythology are appearing out of nowhere?"

Nathaniel sighed and said, "Come down from there boy and we can talk about this in my office. There is less chance of anyone overhearing us that way."

* * *

Ten minutes later the trio was in Nathaniel's office and the big man was passing out sodas from a small refrigerator that had a statue of Hephaestus standing on top. Naruto noticed that Nathaniel glanced at a small green light on his desk and then sighed as he sat down. He glanced at Ms. Frizzle and said, "Now that we're safe we can tell the youngest member of the club about the real world. Since he's your charge, do you want the honors Valerie?"

Ms. Frizzle nodded her head and turned to face Naruto. "This may be difficult for you to accept Naruto, the weavers know that most of us have trouble with this at first, but you are not a normal human. However, I suspect you already know part of that given your explosive playing cards. Everything that regular people classify as 'Greek Mythology' is real. Most mortals just cannot see it do to the Mist which clouds their vision to reality. No one in this room is a mortal. Nathanial, I, and now you Naruto are halfbloods. That is the modern term used to describe the demigods. I am the daughter of Persephone and the granddaughter of Hygieia on my father's side. Nathaniel here is the son of Hephaestus. We don't know who your divine mother or father is and won't know until they claim you."

"Usually, young halfbloods such as yourself are ignorant of all of this since the knowledge makes it harder for your scent to be hidden from monsters. Standard practice for older and wiser halfbloods in such situations is to manipulate the mist so that you remain unaware and safe until you can get to a secure location for training. However, your resistance to the Mist means that your scent will be extraordinary strong. At this point, having you in the know and teaching you to defend yourself is the best solution."

Naruto narrowed his eyes as he heard this information. If Ms. Frizzle was telling him the truth and Naruto couldn't see any signs of her lying, than that meant that his mom was a goddess. That at least explained what she meant by Kushina being a part of her essence. He then asked, "This secure location wouldn't happen to be called Camp Halfblood would it?"

Both adults were shocked to hear Naruto say that. Nathanial calmly spoke up, "Where did you hear about the camp?"

"It was in a letter from my Mother. She said that I'd eventually need to go there for safety. However, she didn't want me appearing there immediately as she wanted to keep some of her enemies in their place before they could attack her through me. Her letter said that someone named Artemis would be especially hostile to my existence, but should help me stay safe if we ever met. Would this Artemis be the same Artemis spoken of in the myths?"

As soon as Naruto said that, both adults paled as they remembered one of the "myths" that had NOT been revealed to mortals by the Muses. Nathanial quickly tapped out a message to Ms. Frizzle in a variation of Morse Code they had created at camp. –Could he possibly be her child?-

-I don't know. I suspected he might be one of us, but none of the usual patterns were showing up. There are dozens of deities who rarely have children so that his mother could be one of them. What are the odds that she'd finally decide to bare a halfblood?-

-If she has, then the shit is about to hit the fan. Especially when you consider the recent power changes up on Olympus. Only a claiming will settle things, but if his could be hers than he will need more protection. Perhaps that letter will hold some clues.-

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and said, "I'm right here you know. I don't know what you're saying to each other in that code of yours, but I'm betting it's about me."

A faint blush of embarrassment crossed Ms. Frizzle's face and she quickly replied, "I'm sorry about that Naruto. It's just that your statement raised some alarms due to a potentially complicated situation that you don't know about. I would like to see that letter when we go home if you don't mind. While only a claiming can sort out our concerns, the letter could provide clues to help us protect you."

The young shinobi felt extremely nervous over the idea of someone else reading his mother's letter. It was one of the few belongings he had from his mother after all. Not to mention, the letter contained clues about why he was on Earth and that he wasn't a normal halfblood. Sure he hadn't been told to keep that he was a ninja a secret, but his situation was too close to an espionage mission for Naruto to just hand over that information. "I'll think about it Ms. Frizzle. Sorry, it's just that my mother's letter is the only thing I have from her so I'm very protective of it."

Ms. Frizzle nodded her head and said, "I understand perfectly Naruto. Gifts from one's divine parent are to be treasured since they cannot spend much time with us. There will be some changes when we get home Naruto. This area is a natural wellspring of earth magic and is currently at the peak of its energy output cycle. That means that monsters are naturally drawn here and halfblood scents are magnified even more than normal to them. I've been trying to keep the monsters away from mortals by periodically amplifying the wellspring's effects on myself and then disposing the monsters that are attracted. Your free time will have to be curtailed in heavy training until the wellspring starts to wane in strength in a few months. We can discuss this when we get home. Now, do you have any questions left?"

A thought crossed Naruto's mind and he thought about Arnold. "Um, what about my classmate Arnold? Is he one of us? I know he is able to see the monsters and he has noticed when the Mist is used."

There was a small shake of Ms. Frizzle's head before she answered Naruto. "No, Arnold is a mortal. Unlike 99.999% of mortals Arnold is clear sighted which means that the Mist has no effect on him at all. Hopefully he can keep his head down where the monsters are concerned. Many monsters consider clear sighted mortals to be a delicacy just under snacking on a halfblood. But don't worry too much about him since you and I are priority targets for monsters. Should we keep him safe and he stays a good young man like he is, than Arnold has a very good future ahead of him. I wouldn't be too surprised if a dryad or naiad decided to make him their boyfriend or future husband. Still, it would be best to keep this information secret from him until he's older."

* * *

Hidden away in Mount Saint Helens, Naruto's mother in her mortal aspect of Kushina worked at her son's forge. What most halfbloods didn't know was that Olympus had a currency system set up for helping their children and champions. Each deity received a small stipend of Favor which could be relinquished to aid one's children or champion. Hera had helped to push through that law millennia ago to try and prevent an arms race between the gods with the demigods being used in proxy wars. Since she had crafted the law, she also knew how to exploit it. For instance, finished magical items like the copies of Hermes's flying shoes cost an enormous amount of favor to give. On the other hand, raw supplies like celestial bronze ingots or drachma used up very little favor.

Naruto needed a proper weapon for a halfblood. Hera knew that her son would almost certainly start trying to protect mortals from monsters even if he wasn't in his old fighting form. He was too much like Minato in that regard always doing his best to protect the people under his care. She knew that she'd probably need most of her stored up favor to help bail Naruto out of the troubles he'd enviably get into in the future. Why her mortal aspect had so much trouble Hera couldn't fathom, but Naruto had inherited that as well. Shifting part of herself back into her mortal aspect allowed her as Kushina to make Naruto a suitable weapon for a fraction of the favor cost. Normally a mortal couldn't work with celestial bronze, but Kushina was born in the shinobi realm and every mortal there counted as a halfblood as far as the rules of Earth's reality were concerned.

Kushina carefully watched as two Kage bunshins heated one of the ingots and beat it out into the necessary size she needed. Her divine aspect was still on Olympus in order to hide what she was doing for the time being. Kushina shook her head and triple checked the seal array she would soon be engraving onto the ingot. Creating Naruto's weapon while in her mortal aspect did have one massive disadvantage. Being a mortal as Kushina she was limited to mortal blacksmithing techniques which were inferior to divine techniques. That meant that a sword or any other weapon she could make would be 'inferior' to something a god or cyclops could make without throwing in extra magical abilities.

So she couldn't smith a sword with a monomolecular edge, big deal. As Kushina she could utilize all of her sealing abilities to create a far more dangerous weapon. Naruto's new weapon would be more than enough once she was through. Her son's new kanabo would be extremely versatile. The adjustable gravity seals would allow the kanabo's weight to go from 1 pound to 600,000 tons if Naruto wished. Unlike that showboat Heracles, Naruto naturally had her divine parental power legacy instead of a sliver siphoned off by a quirk of fate. Zeus never bothered to investigate why that particular brat was so much stronger than his other bastard brothers before or after his birth.

The small frown caused by that thought vanished as Kushina thought about everything else she was adding to the kanabo. It would have the ability to channel and amplify any chakra Naruto used. Given that her son was a wind elemental, she figured that he could give the kanabo an 'edge' just as sharp as a divinely made sword for a negligible chakra drain. But the pièce de résistance to this weapon was in the core of the Kanabo. She had crafted a special set of seals to drain excess demonic chakra from Naruto's seal while he was holding it. This stored chakra would then be sealed within the kanabo until Naruto released it in a Bijuudama. The core could only store one Bijuudama and it took a month to charge one shot. Naruto could speed up the recharge by infusing the Kanabo with demonic chakra. However, the best part of it was that she could legally give her son a weapon with firepower similar to her husband's Master Bolt.

Up on Olympus, Hera grinned at her mortal aspect's thoughts. If Zeus complained about it well, she could always give him a revised thousand years of pain with said Master Bolt. It's not like any of the other Olympians would complain about her giving Naruto the Kanabo. After all, she hadn't broken any of the rules and she was too powerful to openly challenge. The headaches of having a mortal avatar were well worth the benefits. Especially since imprisoning the Kyuubi within Kushina had increased her divine powers to the point that she was as strong as her three brothers combined.

Hera stood up from the throne in her temple complex and walked to a small room that was off of a side corridor. Unlike the other rooms of her private sanctuary, this room had a Japanese decorating theme. This was her 'mortal hall' where she stored valuable items from her time as Kushina. Hera's eyes immediately drifted to a stand which contained a photo of her and Minato's wedding. The goddess was instantly assaulted by a wide range of conflicting emotions just has she had every time she saw that photo. Part of her was disgusted with herself for effectively cheating on Zeus even if he was a god whore. Another part of her knew that she hadn't done anything wrong. The Kami of the Shinobi Realm had told her one important rule when Kushina died: an avatar isn't the same person as a god so their actions don't reflect on said deity much. Yet another part of Hera was happy to have experienced a happy and honest marriage.

A small tear fell from Hera's eye as sighed. "Don't worry Minato; I'll make sure that Naruto grows into the man he is supposed to be."


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto and Ms. Frizzle walked into their house after returning from the fieldtrip. Once they had put their shoes away Ms. Frizzle turned and said, "It's time to show you where I've hidden some of the more interesting items in the house. Many of these things are dangerous and not to be played with. I trust you have some idea of this given your exploding cards?"

A nervous chuckle came from Naruto's lips as he scratched the back of his head. "Uh yes Ms. Frizzle." He had been hoping that she wouldn't remember or at least not bring those up so soon.

The elder halfblood nodded her head and replied, "Good. I was hoping that you have some understanding of how serious weapons are given that you somehow made those cards yourself." A small smirk appeared on her face as she saw the shocked look on Naruto's face. "Please Naruto; it wasn't that hard for someone in the know to figure out you made those cards yourself. Such things don't exist in the mortal world. You couldn't have gotten them from a deity since it's not one of gifts that they would bestow. After several thousand years of records we halfbloods know all the types of gifts our divine relatives will give out. However, I think Lord Hermes and maybe Lord Apollo might like to add exploding cards to their inventory of gifts. I also know that no other halfblood created them since all of us Camp Halfblood Alumni keep in contact. Therefore, the only answer left is that you made them yourself. Since I haven't heard of any mysterious or weird explosions around town, I'm going to assume that you know how to make those safely and trust you to be responsible when you make more."

Some people would question Ms. Frizzle's intelligence in trusting a nine year old to make explosives safely. She knew her mother would give her an earful when she found out. However, there was a reason to her madness. It was obvious that Naruto had some secrets that he was trying to protect. What they were she couldn't imagine, but they probably had something to do with those exploding cards of his. Once Naruto trusted her enough and could share his secrets he probably would. She just needed to be patent. Besides, explosions weren't that much higher on the danger list than working with bladed weapons.

First things first though and Ms. Frizzle lead Naruto to the kitchen. She reached into one of the cabinets and revealed a hidden door in it. Behind the hidden door there was a small safe containing a basin with a small fire burning in it. Ms. Frizzle carefully took out the basin and recently put it on the countertop. "This is my house's hearth Naruto. I use it to make offerings to my mother and sometimes my grandmother before meals. It's customary among halfbloods to sacrifice the choice piece of their meals to their divine parent. You're also expected to offer sacrifice to other gods or goddesses when they help you in times of need when it is not in their interest to do so or just as a means of thanks. For example, I typically offer a sacrifice to my grandmother once a week. Many of the campers at Camp Halfblood who are the children of minor deities will offer a sacrifice to Hermes every once and a while since he lets them stay in his cabin. Even though we don't know who your mother is at the moment, it would be a good thing if you joined me in this custom by offering sacrifices to her as well."

Naruto nodded his head quickly catching on to what he was being told. He then thought of something and asked, "Should I also make an offering to Artemis as well since my mother's letter says that she won't want to help me even though she probably would?"

Ms. Frizzle thought about it for a second and then replied, "That would probably be a good idea Naruto. However, you should remember to make whatever you offer her the best you can or the second best if you're also making an offering to your mother at the same time. Many deities get annoyed at low quality sacrifices made by someone who annoys them and is trying to ease their wraith. However, you also shouldn't go overboard with the offerings either. Also every deity gets annoyed when someone tries to 'bribe' them with offerings. Well, except for Lord Zeus who will gladly take any sacrifice besides human sacrifice or mutilation and prefers them to be as grand as possible. The really important part of any sacrifice though is the right disposition and sincerity of the offer."

The elder halfblood bowed her head slightly at the hearth and Naruto copied the movement moments later. Ms. Frizzle gave her charge a small smile and said, "This way Naruto. I still have several things to show you." She quickly led them to the study and walked over to the small black statue of Cerberus. Naruto then watched as his caretaker firmly placed her hand on the left, right, and center heads. As she did this she said in Greek one word per head, "I request sanctuary." The floor rumbled for several seconds as part of the floor parted to reveal a staircase. The staircase had a bit of space at the bottom so that celestial bronze door it was connected to could open.

Naruto quickly considered what could be behind the door. His first thoughts were an armory but that didn't make much sense. Ms. Frizzle had a rifle that she kept in an armored gun safe bolted in her closet. He only knew that because they occasionally had some game that she caught. Logically her weapons would be kept there as well. Also, the study was in the center of the house without any windows allowing someone to work without enemies on the outside seeing them. To the ninja it equaled only one possible solution. "That's some sort of safe room if we're ever attacked right?"

Ms. Frizzle raised an eyebrow at Naruto's near lighting fast deduction. She honestly expected him to be confused about the door's purpose or think it led to some sort of secret clubroom. "Correct Naruto, there is a safe room behind that door. It's stock with enough provisions to last four people a week and has a connection to several hidden cameras on the edge of the property. If I ever tell you to head for sanctuary, I expect you to run here and stay in that room. A child of Hecate enchanted it so that monsters can almost never find it. Even if they could find it, almost no monster can break through the room's armor. Once you're in the room I expect you to remain in it until either I come to get you or a day has passed since whatever might attack this house leaves. Is that understood?" As Ms. Frizzle said that she gave Naruto such a piercing and commanding gaze that no one could possibly doubt the royalty in her divine lineage.

In response to Ms. Frizzle's command, Naruto gave her a firm nod. She then smiled and said, "It's good that we're clear on this issue Naruto. The final thing you need to know is that I keep several weapons made from celestial bronze, one of very few things that can hurt monsters, locked up in the gun safe. I'll bring out a few weapons now and then for practice, but other than that they remain locked up."

* * *

Months flew by and things quickly settled into a new routine at the Frizzle/Uzumaki house. Twice a week Ms. Frizzle gave Naruto weapons training and taught him about the various monsters he could encounter in the future. He eventually came partly clean about his past. Naruto revealed that he was from another realm that his mother had once visited where people used abilities that were almost magical here on Earth. Ms. Frizzle was also told that he was taught about these abilities at his school back in that realm and that his mother had brought him to Earth for safety. Of course, Naruto neglected to mention anything about training to be a ninja, the Kyuubi, the age change, or that people were considering him for a flee on sight danger ranking. Those were just minor details that no one on Earth needed to know about.

Before Naruto realized it, his birthday was just around the corner. He and Ms. Frizzle were planning a quiet celebration at their house. Naruto was a little annoyed that he couldn't have a birthday party with his classmates over. However, the increase earth magic was currently at its peak making it necessary for the two halfbloods to minimize their contact with mortals as much as possible. Naruto quickly used his parents 'recent death' as a cover for not holding a party.

Currently, Naruto was in the backyard trying to sense nature energy. He didn't have any illusions about regaining sage mode for the time being. His body was still too young to handle that kind of power. Naruto just wanted to do as much as he could so that when he was physically ready he could regain sage mode again ASAP. Sensing nature energy was a step that he could safely due at the present time. One would think that with all the earth magic being kicked up that it should be easy for him to sense nature energy. However, earth magic did not equal nature energy and in fact made the whole process harder. The closet Naruto could think of comparing his attempt to sense nature energy at the moment would be to someone trying to hear a cricket chirp during a rock concert.

Naruto opened his eyes and sighed, "Looks like that's a bust." He then got up and headed back into the house. Once inside the house, Naruto looked at a picture of a teenaged Ms. Frizzle and several of her friends at Camp Halfblood. Just two more years and then Ms. Frizzle would let him go to the camp. Naruto was extremely interested in the Camp because he wanted to meet some halfbloods his own age. It was always great having people you could relate to around. None of the kids would be in the same boat as he was, but they would be in similar situations. Hopefully they'd be more mature as dealing with his classmates was starting to get annoying at times. Especially Carlos, if he made one more lame pun or joke again then Naruto was going to resurrect his prank king from hell routine with Carlos as his main target believe it!

Ms. Frizzle came out of the kitchen wearing an apron and a dress with a hurricane theme on it. She had just finished mixing Naruto's birthday cake and had put it in the oven. "Good morning Naruto, did you enjoy your time meditating?"

"Yes I did. Wish it was more productive, but it was good all the same."

The elder halfblood nodded her head and gave Naruto a motherly smile. "That's good to hear. Now, we've got about two hours before the cake is done and we can add the icing. How would you like to watch a movie while we wait?"

Before Naruto could speak the doorbell rang. Ms. Frizzle smiled and said, "Just think about it while I go see what that's about." Naruto nodded his head and headed over to the movie rack to think about what he might want to watch. He was thinking about putting on Attila again. For some inexplicable reason, that film was extremely satisfying and made him feel as if a cancer was being removed. But, he had watched that movie last week on movie night so wasn't it too soon to be watching it again?

Naruto's musings came to an abrupt halt when Ms. Frizzle called out, "Come here Naruto. It seems your relative in New York has left you a present!" Naruto's heart started to race as he ran towards the front door. Relative from New York was a code for the Olympians between Ms. Frizzle and Naruto. The young shinobi could hardly wait to see what his mother had given him. Even a simple birthday card would be more valuable to him than all the gold in Fort Knox. Besides, he could swipe everything in Fort Knox if he felt like it.

Ms. Frizzle had moved out of the way so that Naruto could get to the front porch. There was a wooden crate at the front door with a letter gently resting on top. He pounced on the letter and eagerly opened it up so he could read it.

'Dear son,

I know that this letter will find you in good health and hopefully happy on your birthday. You have made me proud with how well you are adapting to my world. I know that you want to spend time with me and I wish to spend time with you. However, duty must come before pleasure. Such is the burden of any leader whether they are a deity or a mere kage. You should know that I am looking into some avenues that may allow me to visit you from time to it. Whether these possibilities can be realized or that I can do them without compromising my ability to do my duties remains to be seen. Hopefully, my suspicions will pan out and I will be able to see you in person soon. If they do not work, then know that I have tried and will keep trying when possible to be with you my son.

Within the chest are your birthday present and your inheritance from my mortal self. The kanabo is my gift to you and will help you fight off monsters foolish enough to challenge you. Instructions for its full abilities are in the chest. The inheritance is copies of several books typically used by the Uzumaki clan for training. You will also find copies of my mortal self's diary and the journal of your father. Use them to grow stronger and know that I am looking out for you even though you cannot see me.

Love,

Mother'

Tears of joy freely flowed down Naruto's face as he read the letter. He didn't care about the weapon in the crate or the books at the moment. Sure part of him was ecstatic to have them, but that wasn't what made him euphoric. All Naruto cared about at that moment was that his mother loved him and was trying to spend time with him. It might turn out that she couldn't spend much time with him if any, but that was alright. The mere fact that she wanted to and was trying to find a way that didn't conflict with her duties was enough for Naruto.

* * *

A dark cloud had metaphorically covered the Hunters' camp for months and spread a feeling of impending catastrophe to the hunters. Each of the young women was walking on eggshells around their beloved mistress sensing a terror growing in the goddess's heart and not knowing what they should do to solve the problem. This presence of gloom had suddenly come about one day months ago and had just grown steadily worse. However, the presence today was especially heavy today for some reason. There was also terror woven into the camp's atmosphere that radiated out from Artemis's tent.

Four of the fifty maidens quietly stood in a nearby grove that gave them an excellent view of Artemis's tent. These four hunters were Zoe, Phoebe, Atalanta and Daphne. All four 'young' women were special among the Hunters as they were the last of Artemis's original fifty. Their other original sisters had been lost through time either by accidents, wars, going astray, or Aphrodite's attacks. They knew more about the hunt and their mistress than any other hunter could possibly hope to know. Daphne started the clandestine meeting by saying, "There is a storm on the horizon. This presence is its herald and our mistress is at its heart."

Phoebe nodded her head and continued, "We need to find out what is going to happen and put a stop to it. I don't know about you three, but ever since this mood settled in on the hunt I've felt like I'm being judged. Plus there's been a touch of danger in the air that hasn't been there since." Phoebe's voice faltered as she was unable to bring herself to say what was on her mind.

"The danger that we haven't face since Lady Artemis tricked Aphrodite," Atalanta dryly and bluntly stated the one thing that none of the quartet wanted to bring up. Atalanta looked her sisters in the eye and continued on. "Let's not shy away from the facts. We never experienced this kind of pervasive danger when we fought against the Giants or our clashes with the Corrupted Ones. This danger we sense has only been felt when Aphrodite and Eros hunted us to spite Lady Artemis."

Zoe shook her head. "That is not possible. Our Lady's gambit still stands as the greatest plan of any of the Olympians. Aphrodite and Eros cannot touch or even come near us or they forfeit their divinity. Their attempts at using the Corrupted Ones against us always failed in the past. Now the other Olympians have given strict orders that they be kept away from us and even the Campers. Her children are worthless when it comes to battle and no other camper would be willing to provoke our lady's wraith. The danger cannot come from that corner as those two are harmless to us for the rest of time."

Daphne shook her head. "They are not harmless to us for the rest of time Zoe. Remember, there is a price for our respite from them."

"A price that will not have to be paid," Phoebe hissed with such venom that one could almost think she was part serpent. "Don't forget we all spent five years helping Lady Artemis craft that wager. We all agreed risking Lady Hera's wrath was acceptable at the time because there is no way that she'd ever cheat on her husband."

Atalanta nervously looked at her sisters. "I wouldn't be so sure of that these days. Lady Hera never before wielded the kind of strength and power that she does now. No one knows where or how she gained her new abilities. All we do know is that a decade ago she suddenly became strong enough to make herself the real power in Olympus. The Thunderer might still be king in name, but everyone knows he is effectively a figurehead for the Council these days. While no one is quite sure what to make about the new dynamics, it is obvious that they are here to stay. Also, we mustn't forget that this presence only came to the camp after our mistress had a meeting with Lady Hera."

Zoe shook her head. "I refuse to even consider such a line of thought unless it is told to me by Lady Artemis. Besides, we all swore when we crafted this plan that our mistress would be safe no matter what. You were the one who created our final plan Atalanta so that we would never be hostages to be used against Lady Artemis. I was willing to use it back then and I am still willing to use it now if the Fates decree it."

Phoebe nodded her head. "I'm with Zoe on this matter. You two are creating problems where there are none. Besides, my promise remains even if your phantom nightmares were to become real. Don't tell me that you two are afraid?"

Daphne and Atalanta looked at each other and quickly communicated with a glance. Daphne then spoke for both of them. "Neither of us is afraid to die. You could hand me a cup of hemlock this very moment and I would happily drink it if I knew it would protect our lady. However, you two have forgotten something extremely important. We are the only Hunters left who swore that oath or even know about it. How would you suggest we go about organizing a mass suicide if Fates forbid, lady Hera does have a halfblood? Our younger sisters are effectively hostages if this forbidding presence does herald what we fear."

Zoe stood up and folded her hands across her chest. "That is enough of this sort of talk! Since you three can only focus on imaginary fears there is no point to this meeting. I will speak to our Lady and if she wishes it I will find out what is wrong. Until then I suggest you keep your imaginations in check." With that said Zoe left the circle and walked towards Artemis's tent. She then touched the flap of the tent and promptly entered it leaving the other three hunters gaping in shock.

Inside the tent, Zoe nearly had a heart attack when she saw the sight in front of her. The proud and confident Artemis was sitting on her bed in the form of a five year old. While that was younger than her usual form among the hunters that was not what shocked Zoe. What was shocking was the fact that Artemis was wrapped up in several trophy furs as if trying to hide and shivering in terror. Furthermore, she kept chanting in a terrified voice, "Only eight years left what am I going to do? Only eight years left what am I going to do?"

For over a minute Zoe watched in shock as Artemis continued her panicked chant. Part of the hunter was shocked that her lady never broke the chant to recognize her rather unseemly intrusion. Artemis continued her chant on and on lost to the world in her own worries. Zoe finally realized that she needed to do something or her lady would just continue on in this state. She bowed her head and said, "Please forgive me my Lady for what I'm about to do." Zoe then raised her hand and slapped Artemis across the cheek unintentionally knocking the goddess off her bed and onto the floor.

Luckily, the slap and sudden introduction to the floor snapped Artemis out of her nervous breakdown. The goddess's form quickly shifted from a five year old to that of a seventeen year old. Artemis sighed and then smiled at Zoe as she sat back on her bed. "Thank you Zoe, I needed that."

Zoe bowed her head and then sat down on the tent floor. "I'd do anything to help you my lady. What is it that has you so upset? If you wish to share this burden I will do everything in my power to help ease it."

Artemis sighed and then replied, "There's nothing you or anyone else can do to ease my problems Zoe although I'm touched by your wish. However, I suppose it would help me cope if I talked about my problems. The fact of the matter Zoe is that today is Naruto Uzumaki's tenth birthday. I only have eight years left to get him to marry me or I lose all of you." There was a soft thud on the floor as Zoe fainted from shock when she heard that news.

* * *

It can be amazing how quickly people adjust to unique situations. For instance, Naruto started carrying around the kanabo his mother made him and now no one questioned him about always having his 'luckily bat' on hand. It did help Naruto's cover that he took up a passing interest in baseball and that with a little chakra manipulation he could use the kanabo as a bat. A smirk was on Naruto's face as he walked onto the school's playground towards the baseball diamond with his kanabo balanced on his back.

Ralphie was standing on pitcher's mound and called out to Naruto. "You're going down today teacher's pet. Since you're the last here you get stuck on Team Bookworm. Arnold's team captain for you guys so go see him and grab a bench because you won't be sitting down for long!"

Naruto quickly shot back as he headed to bench, "The only thing going down is whoever's downwind of you garlic breath!" He then quickly got to the bench and called out to Arnold, "So what's the game plan buddy?"

Arnold looked up and smiled at his best friend. "It's very simple Naruto. We're mostly going to be batting in order of whoever grabbed a spot on the bench first. However, you're up if we either get 2 outs or three people on bases. Sorry for putting so much pressure on you, but you are the best player on the team."

Naruto quickly took his spot at the end of the bench and shrugged. "It's no pressure whatsoever Arnold. You're the captain so you should do whatever you think is best for the team." Naruto watched as Dorothy Ann stepped up to bat first. She got two strikes and then was able to get to first base. The next person on the lineup was able to hit the baseball on their second swing. The person after that hit the ball and was then tagged out.

The game continued like this for a few minutes with everyone on Team Bookworm doing good enough that Arnold didn't need to call in Naruto. In all honestly Naruto was happy that he wasn't needed at bat because something was setting his instincts on alert. Naruto's eyes scanned around trying to see what was wrong. No traps had been set on the field to hurt any of the students. Given the time of day the nearby river spirit would be in his home watching Baywatch. There weren't any mysterious extra students stalking the game field. What was setting him on edge?

After three minutes of scanning Naruto finally found what was bothering him. A Stymphalian bird was flying in the sky apparently separated from its flock. The slowly lowering amount of earth magic in the area must be causing the monsters to become confused. Perhaps the monster's confusion was like a flock of birds that enter a powerful magnetic field? Naruto's eyes narrowed as he watched the Stymphalian bird slowly start to fly closer to the school. He needed to kill it or it might attack someone in the town. But how was he supposed to do that while the buzzard was still in the air? He didn't have any arrows and all of his ninjutsu didn't have enough range. The kanabo wasn't useful at the moment since its long range attack wasn't charged up yet and was way too overpowered for one Stymphalian bird. If only he could throw one of his exploding cards far enough to hit the monster.

Suddenly an idea hit the halfblood ninja on how he could solve his problems. The first thing Naruto did pull out a small piece of paper and trace a tiny seal on it. Then he adjusted his grip on the kanabo so that he could stick the paper with the seal to the kanabo. Next, Naruto used the mist to hide his actions from everyone else. Finally, he used his limited genjutsu abilities to alter things on the baseball field. It wasn't anything major as Naruto made it just hard enough for Carlos to find the ball so that Wanda could make it to first base.

Arnold called out, "Okay Naruto you're up now." Naruto then got up and started walking to the plate. Arnold then called out, "It would be great if you can get just one of the team home."

Naruto turned to grin at his buddy and shot back, "How would you like a Grand Slam?"

Ralphie heard Naruto's comment and snorted. "Getting a little full of yourself aren't you teacher's pet? No one in this school has ever gotten a Grand Slam. Trust me, as one of the few people to ever hit a home run I can tell you that you are not getting a Grand Slam. You'll be lucky if you can even hit my curve ball!"

Naruto stepped onto the plate took a quick glance at the Stymphalian bird which was now above the roof of the bakery across the street at the end of the baseball field. He quickly calculated the trajectory and then offered a quick prayer to Artemis for a good aim. While Naruto serious doubted baseball was in her divine portfolio, he figured the fact that he was hunting a monster would mean she could help him out. Naruto then called out, "Bring it on Raph."

Ralphie quickly pulled back his arm and then threw the ball for all he was worth. The baseball flew through the air at an incredibly impressive speed for a ten year old. Naruto quickly glanced between the ball and the bird. When the time was right Naruto hit the baseball dead on and transferred the explosive seal to the ball. The improvised explosive then soared out of the park towards its target hitting the Stymphalian bird right in the center of mass. The monster's brain didn't have time to realize it had been hit before seal detonated the monster.

"What the Heck," Ralphie and everyone on the field yelled out in shock and disbelief. To their eyes Naruto had hit the ball out of the park, across the street, and then hit some fireworks that the high schoolers had hidden on the bakery roof. Ralphie then turned to look at Naruto as he calmly walked along the bases while his team started to cheer. Team Bookworm's cheers grew louder and louder as each runner made it to home. Ralphie watch Naruto cross home and pick up his lucky bat again. The dumbfounded pitcher then muttered, "Is Naruto a god of baseball or something?"


	4. Chapter 4

An eleven year old Naruto sat on a grassy hill on the outskirts of town. Once again he was trying to connect with nature energy and was having no more luck now than he had over a year ago. It didn't make any sense what so ever! The earth magic was no longer spiking like it used to do. Hell, he hadn't even seen a monster for the past six months as the magic was no longer attracting them. Naruto just couldn't figure out what he was doing wrong. He could sense that the area was saturated with natural energy, but it felt like he was looking at an echo of the energy for lack of a better term.

Finally, Naruto sighed and opened his eyes. That meditation session was a bust just like all the other ones he had done here on Earth to prepare himself for the sage mode. Naruto then stood up and thought about what he could do for further training today. He had already practiced his calligraphy for fuuinjutsu. Ninjutsu was at an impasse as Naruto needed to find some place that he could unleash his more destructive jutsus like the Rasen Shuriken without causing a panic among the locals. His taijutsu was coming along well enough. The train station workers weren't too happy given that he used their trains for weight lifting and didn't always put them back correctly. He could read some more military books, but he had already read every military book in town's library. Kage bunshin were great for learning a lot fast, but that meant you didn't have as much to learn in your downtime.

An idea suddenly popped into Naruto's head. The dryads were nature spirits so perhaps they could help him with mastering nature energy? Sure it was likely that they never even heard of nature energy given that Naruto learned about it on another world, but it was the best option he had for help. Naruto started to walk towards a secluded spring that was about half a mile away. He could have been there in a minute if he ran, but the young halfblood wanted to walk. Being around nature had always been peaceful and relaxing to Naruto and it became even more so since he became a sage.

While walking to the springs Naruto's ears picked up a familiar sound that he had never expected to hear again. It was the perverted giggling of a massive pervert who was no doubt spying on some women. Naruto figured he should investigate since he didn't like perverts and beating one up always made him feel better. Besides, it should get him into the dryads' good graces since it was likely that the pervert was spying on them. Naruto quietly walked towards a patch of tall grass where the giggling was coming from. He then reached in and pulled out the pervert.

To Naruto's shock, he was holding a coyote that was holding a pair of binoculars and glaring at him. The coyote then said, "Hey jerk! Don't you know it's rude to grab someone like this? How about you show me a little decency?"

Naruto did not let go of the coyote and he was not surprised that the dog could speak. He held the spirit mutt so that they were eye level and rebuked the dog. "It's even worse when someone's watching a bunch of girls like a stalker. Now tell me who you are and why I shouldn't flay you so that the Dryads can have a coyote pelt towel."

The coyote whimpered at Naruto's threat. "Not again, it was bad enough when those Indians chopped off my dick making that dam! Do you know what it's like having to wait a decade to regrow your own dick? It's not fun at all!"

Naruto gave the coyote a glare and said, "You'll see how long it takes you to regrow your balls if you don't leave those dryads alone! Now, who are you? I don't recall hearing about a coyote in any bit of Greek mythology."

The coyote rolled his eyes and replied, "You can call me Sk'elep; it's what the Shuswap people call me and it's my favorite name at the moment. I'm known all throughout this land to most of the native cultures. You might have heard of me in Native American folklore as Coyote. I don't like being referred to as Coyote among English speakers because of how generic you people make my name. Would you like to be called Boy or Human? Sure Sk'elep is the same among the Shuswap, but at least with your people it's more unique."

Sk'elep sniffed the air and then frowned in confusion. He glanced at Naruto and looked puzzled for a second who was also looking puzzled. The spirit then said, "Look kid. How about you let me down and I answer your questions?"

Naruto then said, "That sounds interesting, but how do I know you aren't going to run away if I let you go? I may not study a lot of folklore, but I do remember that you're supposed to be a trickster of some sort."

"I swear on my playboy collection that I won't try and trick you if you let me go."

Know that this was a very solemn oath for a pervert, Naruto let Sk'elep go. Sk'elep quickly sat down Indian style in front of Naruto. He then began to speak. "Okay brat, let me explain a few things to you. I'm not in your 'classical mythology' like you demi-deities are and instead I'm in the Native American folklore. What most of your kind doesn't realize is that you represent only part of the West. You guys typically stick to areas where those Olympians can exert their influence over the west. Followers of the Great Spirit such as me have no such boundaries and can freely move wherever the West is."

The young halfblood nodded his head as he listened to what Sk'elep told him. "Okay, that's good to know. However, why were you peeking on the dryads who are nearby?"

With an unrepentant grin Sk'elep answered, "Because they are hot! Someone has been digging into the miracle grown if you know what I mean. Why were you heading over here kid? Hoping to see something, heh, naughty?"

Why, Naruto wondered, did he always seem to find the most perverted people in existence? Seriously, it was like a curse with how often he found these guys. A tick appeared on Naruto's face as he replied, "No I was not. I was going to ask the Dryads if they could help me with controlling natural energy."

Sk'elep instantly became serious when he heard Naruto say that. Naruto then felt a powerful presence as if he was suddenly next to a hundred Sages all looking at him. The halfblood's eyes widened as he realized that the presence was coming from his furry companion. Naruto then murmured in shock, "You know the Sage Arts?"

"Yes I do." Sk'elep calmly said. "The real question is how is do you know of those arts? None of the Great Spirit's followers have passed on those arts since the first deities tried to overthrow the Great Spirit."

Naruto quickly replied, "I learned them from the Toad Sages on Mt. Myoboku."

"If it wasn't for the fact that I can tell you are not lying, I'd have to call bullshit. I know every location on the Earth and there isn't a place called Mt. Myoboku.

For a moment Naruto considered what he should tell Sk'elep and then decided to come clean. It seemed the best way to re-master his Sage skills. "Mt. Myoboku is on another world. My mom brought me here because it was getting too dangerous for me in my birth world."

Sk'elep nodded his head and replied, "That would make sense. How would you like it if I teach you how to be a sage in this world as well? Since you know the arts you'd eventually figure out what's needed, but I can help you achieve it faster."

Naruto nodded his head and said, "You got yourself a student Sk'elep."

* * *

That night Naruto was once again dealing with a dozy of a visionary dream. In it he saw a gargantuan sized person fighting against twelve people. The gargantuan person his vision was focused on had eyes like the Rinnegan, but each eye had nine tomoe. Naruto watched in the vision with fascination as the being thoroughly trounced his twelve opponents. The violence and carnage of the one sided battle was captivating in its destruction. Eventually, the twelve challengers were defeated leaving only the man with the mutated Rinnegan on the field.

The man started walking towards one of his challengers and Naruto noticed in the vision that the bloody pulp of a challenger was loosely holding a scythe in his hand. That challenger was the only one of the twelve still conscious and he looked like he'd be heading to knock out land soon enough. Naruto then heard the man start to speak. However, most of what he was saying was muffled. All the young halfblood could catch from the vision was curse, crooked, and children.

Once the man finished speaking, he rose into the air – Naruto's vision was suddenly interrupted by his danger sense going off. Like any well trained ninja, Naruto immediately awoke and lashed out with a fist towards the general direction of the danger. Something caught Naruto's fist and instinctively he tried to twist his hand to get a grip on the object. Before his conscious mind realized the situation, Naruto lashed out with his other fist which was grabbed as well. The last instinctive order Naruto gave his body before realizing the situation was to turn so that whatever was holding him would be flipped.

Things didn't quite work out as Naruto's battle instincts had hoped. Naruto and his mysterious attacker rolled out of Naruto's bed and onto the floor of his room. By this point, Naruto's brain fully engaged to realize that he was wrestling with someone. From the feel of the form beneath him, Naruto figured he was dealing with a girl in the beginning stages of adolescence. Naruto was trying to figure out why this girl was in his room and even how she got into the house.

Before Naruto could ask what was going on, his auburn haired assailant head-butted him. She used the resulting opening to flip them around so that she was on top. Naruto quickly regained his focus and forgot about wondering who his attacker was or why she was here. All that mattered at the moment was to force her into submission so that he could get some answers without being attack. The duo's battle quickly devolved into a no holds bar grabbling contest with the couple rolling back and forth on floor each one trying to make the other submit.

The duo's constant thumping on the floors and the occasional thud against the walls quickly got Ms. Frizzle's attention. She rushed to Naruto's room with a spear in hand and opened the door. Her eyes widened in shock as Naruto and the young woman continued their wrestling match. The duo was so focused on trying to beat each other that they never noticed Ms. Frizzle's arrival. She quickly noticed the auburn hair and the now disheveled silvery outfit of Naruto's 'attacker'. Naruto and his companion both tried to headbutt the other during a roll and accidentally locked lips. A faint blush appeared on Ms. Frizzle's face as she quietly closed the door and returned to her room. When Ms. Frizzle got to her room she put some earplugs in her ears and then put on some noise canceling headphones. If Artemis wanted to fool around with the young man she had almost certainly pledged herself to thousands of years ago who was she to argue?

Once Artemis's lips touched Naruto's her temper erupted. How dare Hera's brat take her first kiss like that! First Naruto tries to punch her lights out when she came to read his mind and then this indignity happens. "Why you little punk!" she hissed out in rage as she lost control of her temper and started to pour more of her divine power into their scuffle so she could end it. The fact that she initially came to get information on Naruto so that she could court him slipped her mind completely.

The spike in Artemis's divine power echoed in Naruto causing him to unintentionally draw on the Kyuubi's demonic chakra. Instantly the house was flooded with a dark and dominating presence as the chakra cloak started to form around Naruto. Ms. Frizzle was jolted out of her attempt to ignore the duo's antics by the demonic chakra. As for Artemis, she was starting to freak out from the powerful and unknown presence coming from Naruto. She watched as Naruto's eyes shifted from blue to demonic blood red slits. Watching something like this brought terror to the goddess's heart as this wasn't something she had ever experienced or heard about in her long life. After living for thousands of years the unknown can become truly terrifying when it rears its head again. Artemis started to draw on more of her divine power in her fear only causing Naruto to instinctively grab more demonic chakra.

Ms. Frizzle got to the door just in time to see Artemis break the hold Naruto had on her and jump back. The Kyuubi influenced Naruto jumped onto all fours and then lunged at Artemis. He tackled the goddess and the duo went sailing through the nearby wall and out into the backyard. Ms. Frizzle blinked her eyes in disbelief and then ran to the hole in the wall to see what was happening. She was completely out of her depths and did the only thing she could think of to do when she saw the duo on the ground. The elder halfblood used every last bit of her strength to summon as much Mist as possible.

Down in the backyard, Artemis had accidentally hit her head on the celestial bronze water fountain that Ms. Frizzle had made for a craftsmen competition at Camp Halfblood years ago. The force of the blow was enough to knock her out due to the fact she wasn't prepared for the blow. With Artemis no longer radiating divine energy Naruto instinctively stopped drawing on more of the Kyuubi's chakra. That didn't do anything about the amount of chakra he was still drawing from the beast. Naruto's mind was trying to stop the flow but his body wasn't physically ready to control the power he was unleashing. Ironic considering that every other time Naruto ever lost control of the Kyuubi's power he had been physically ready to control it, but he hadn't been prepared mentally.

The side effect of this was that under the kyuubi's influence Naruto was projecting a dominating aura instead of a flood of killing intent. Also, the now one tailed cloak Naruto was acting like a fox kit instead of a bloodthirsty monster. Ms. Frizzle watched in shock as Naruto ran around the back yard without a care in the world. She then watched as Naruto took notice of Artemis and slowly started to walk towards her on all fours. The demonically influenced boy carefully sniffed the goddess's hair. Something about Artemis's scent was agreeable to Naruto as he smiled and let out a happy kon. Naruto pranced around the goddess constantly letting out kons as if he was trying to tell the whole world some fantastic news.

After a few seconds, Naruto stopped prancing and turned to look at Artemis. He let out a worried kon and then nudged her foot trying to get the goddess to wake up. When Artemis didn't respond Naruto crawled on top of her and licked her face. That naturally didn't work and as a result the demonically influenced halfblood let out a piteous whine. He then curled up into a ball on Artemis's lap so that he could go to sleep and still guard his future mate.

* * *

The next morning, Ms. Frizzle got up and walked like one of her mother's subjects to the coffee pot. She took a few sips of her coffee and started to truly wake up. Once Ms. Frizzle was awake her memories of last night returned and she smacked her forehead. "It's going to be one of those days Valarie," Ms. Frizzle muttered to herself. The halfblood downed the remainder of her coffee and then walked to the backyard. It was time to see just how bad the situation was and pray that Artemis didn't overreact like the divines usually did.

Once Ms. Frizzle got to the backyard she quickly looked at area and cringed. Her insurance was no doubt going to go through the roof with the 'micro meteor' hit that took out part of her wall and caused some small cracks in the ground. However, that was minimal in her mind to the situation in front of her. Naruto and Artemis were cuddled up in the mud from the broken fountain. Apparently the duo had shifted positions in their sleep and Naruto was spooled with Artemis and the goddess's back was firmly against his chest. What made matters even worse was the fact that the Kyuubi's had burnt the nearby grass and most of their clothes. Ms. Frizzle couldn't see what remained of their outfits and really didn't want to investigate.

With a low groan the elder halfblood muttered, "Seriously Tyche, what did I do to annoy you so much?" Ms. Frizzle didn't know how this could be worse and she definitely didn't want to know. She also couldn't think of a way to make this situation better. Artemis was going to freak out when she woke up and realized her current situation. That was so certain that it might as well have been announced by the Fates themselves. The only way to make things better would be to separate the duo, wash Artemis up, get her dressed, and then tuck her away in a guest room. However, that wouldn't work since Artemis would most likely wake up in the middle of that process. Furthermore, Ms. Frizzle knew that the goddess could just find out what happened by reading her mind.

Someone then shocked Ms. Frizzle by speaking up, "I'm not sure whether this should be classified as an epic win on Artemis's part or an epic failure." Ms. Frizzle whipped her head around to her right in shock and a bit of fear. Who was in the yard with her and how did the speaker get so close without her sensing their approach? The demigoddess quickly spotted the intruder and her eyes widened in shock. There was no doubt in Ms. Frizzle's mind that she was looking at another goddess. However, she couldn't place the goddess as the lady's form was not one in the halfblood reference booklet. That was rather unnerving since Camp alumni over the past 400 years had carefully recorded all of the gods and goddesses preferred forms.

Most of the older generation in Konoha could have recognized Ms. Frizzle's companion even though they'd have to do a double take. The young woman to the halfblood's right was definitely Kushina Uzumaki. However, her red hair had been replaced with a mane of dark brown hair highlighted with strands of dark red hair. Kushina had lost her pale complexion gaining an olive one in its place. Finally, all of the 'imperfections' in her looks were gone giving the young woman an unearthly beauty. Ms. Frizzle stared in shock at the goddess and watched as her hair shimmered because of a constantly changing amount of red hair. Sometimes the red hair would almost fade and other times it formed massive stripes in her locks.

Hera Hypostasis shook her head as she looked at Artemis and her son lying in the mud. This was not how she wanted to meet her son. In all honesty Hera wouldn't have been here if Artemis hadn't caused such a mess. Hera had been working for months to perfect a hypostatic union so that she could spend time with Naruto while still doing all of her divine duties. Once she got it perfected she would be able to spend a couple of hours each week with Naruto and not break any laws. Hera had been working on this merging of her divine and human natures for months trying to get them equal in this current form. She could have sent her purely human aspect of Kushina to visit Naruto sooner, but that didn't sit well with the goddess. She wanted her son to know her, not a minor fragment of who she was. Going as her divine self was a no go since deities could only visit their mortal children for an hour each year with no accumulation of time. Uniting her two natures in this current form allowed Hera to get around all of the divine limits while still allowing her to truly be herself around Naruto. Thus, a portion of her could be here in Alaska while another portion of her in the purely divine form of Hera Olympios was still on Olympus keeping everything running.

The goddess walked over to the sleeping duo and snapped her fingers causing her hair to momentarily turn black. A golden flash covered Artemis and Naruto and then they disappeared from the mud to reappear on the patio a few feet away. Ms. Frizzle saw that the duo were now separated by almost a yard and dressed. Naruto was in one of his orange hoodies and jeans combos. As for Artemis, the elder halfblood had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing. The goddess of tomboys was wearing a Hello Kitty blouse, a pink dress with frills, and My Little Pony sneakers. To top it all off, Hera had done up Artemis's hair in a Shirley Temple style with little pink bows.

In a fit of impishness from her human half, Hera took out a camera and took several dozen photos of Artemis in her current outfit. Once Hera had her photos she sent the camera back to Olympus so that they'd be safely stored in one of her vaults. Hera then picked up Artemis and used a bit of her power to keep the other goddess asleep. She then turned to Ms. Frizzle and said, "We have to minimize the damage done to prevent Naruto's scent from growing stronger. It is only because this part of Alaska is on the extreme fringe of Olympus's control that Naruto hasn't started attracting more monsters. That flare of demonic charka unfortunately will attract all monsters within a thousand miles."

Ms. Frizzle nodded her head and said, "I understand milady. What do you want me to tell Naruto when he asks about what happened last night?"

Hera looked at her son and a soft smile appeared on her face. Hopefully she'd have this union perfected in time to visit Naruto's next birthday party. She then said, "Tell my son that he caught the attention of a young goddess who came over last night to try and find out more about him. The two of them got into a bit of a scuffle due to his battle instincts and her stupidity. Once the scuffle ended an elder deity came to retrieve the goddess." With that said, Hera and Artemis disappeared from the backyard teleporting back to Olympus.

* * *

"You've got a goddess interested in you and your first reaction is to get into a fight? What the hell is wrong with you Naruto?" Sk'elep nearly yelled in shock after he got the story of what really happened two days ago from the young ninja. Everyone who was part of the mythological side of the neighborhood knew that something had happened in town with the amount of divine energy and that other energy being released. The coyote shook his furry head and muttered, "Naruto you fool. I know you're a young kid but you need to know a vital life lesson. If a goddess visits you in the middle of the night you let her join you and make sure to not roll her out of the bed in the morning!"

Naruto shot Sk'elep a dirty glare and replied, "If I didn't know that you have never been to the Elemental Nations I would swear that you fathered Jiraiya. Now can we please drop this and get on with our lessons."

Sk'elep sighed and then started his lecture. "I've contacted an old partner in crime of mine for more information on the world you came from. You'd know him as Raven from Native American folklore. Like me, he likes to use a different name from one of the tribes to distinguish himself from the common animals. In his case he currently likes to go by the name of Kok'-kol from the Miwok tribe. Kok'-kol has the ability to visit different realms and he has visited your world in the past. In fact, the members of the Raven Clan of summoning animals in your world are his descendants."

"Now thanks to Kok'-kol I know why you were having so much trouble trying to sense nature energy. Now when we speak of nature energy we are referring to a specific portion of the energy that is in nature. Specifically, you draw on the hard, firm, and aggressive aspects of nature which could technically be called Sage Nature Energy. In your world those aspects are the most prominent parts of nature so your sages just generically label them as nature energy."

Sk'elep then pulled out a notebook and put on a pair of reading glasses before continuing on his lecture. "Okay, according to Kok'-kol these aspects needed to draw power for a Sage are classified in your world under the concept of Yang. On the other hand, the nature energy in the Earth is prominently diffuse, yielding, and passive in its aspects which make it easy to use for Earth magic. These aspects are classified by you ninjas as Yin. The fact that there is always some Yang where there is Yin and vice versa is why you feel a nature energy 'echo'. You are in fact sensing the minute yang aspect of nature energy that resides in the land. Now there is a simple reason why the Elemental Nations and Earth have different aspects of nature energy in emphasized. In the Elemental Nations your land was formed by gods while the land on Earth was formed by a goddess. Therefore the land's natural energy is in sync with its creator's alignment of Yin and Yang."

Naruto nodded his head and spoke up. "That makes sense. So what we need to do is get me trained to pull nature energy from the sky instead of from the land."

"You're not as dumb as you look Naruto," Sk'elep said while raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Given how you totally blew it with that goddess whose name you didn't even try to get I figured you'd need to be hit with the clue bat."

A tic appeared on Naruto's forehead and he made a fist with his hand. Naruto ground his teeth together and yelled, "Will you drop that already?"

"Why should I drop the fact that you made yourself the winner of the Universe's Biggest Idiot contest for the year?"

"That's it Sk'elep!" Naruto pulled back his fist and tried to punch the coyote. Sk'elep blocked the punch with one paw before giving is pupil a sarcastic smirk. The spirit jumped back and onto his rear legs while holding his front paws in a defensive posture. Sk'elep made a come and get me gesture which Naruto eagerly responded to with an attack. The demigod and the coyote spirit quickly got into an impromptu sparing match. Naruto used a modified version of the Iron Fist style which he had found worked better with his super strength than the Frog Style. Sk'elep used a style that Naruto couldn't place at all. It was a flowing style with constant movement and attacks from all angles. Seemingly extra movement was used to lead into a new attack.

For the next hour the two fought in a match that obviously could only be decided by the contestants' stamina. The field they had been sparing in had become littered with craters from Sk'elep redirecting Naruto's punches. Sk'elep then halted the match by saying, "Can you feel it Naruto?"

Naruto paused in mid punch and blinked his eyes. "Feel it, what it are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the nature energy that you need for the Sage arts you moron! You're way too young to use them, but you should have felt them during the fight."

Naruto scratched his head in confusion. "That doesn't make any sense Sk'elep. How can I hope to sense nature energy while fighting if I can only sense and collect nature energy when I'm not moving?"

Sk'elep shook his head in dismay. "That was in the Elemental nations you came from because you were drawing energy from the land. On Earth a sage draws his powers from the sky. Here a Sage must learn how to separate conscious from subconscious."

Naruto sat down even more confused than before. "What do you mean separate conscious from subconscious? They are separate!"

Getting down on all fours, Sk'elep calmly walked over to Naruto. He then said, "Do you think about what you must do to walk or do you just walk? When you go for a walk to the park your mind thinks that you will go to the park and your muscles perform the necessary actions to walk. It is a similar principle here. The sky is in constant motion so a sage must be in constant motion in order to draw natural energy. Experienced sages like me can just use the blinking of our eyes or simple breathing to draw on this energy. However, we do this without thinking about it."

Suddenly the coyote pulled out a handheld multiple blade wind fan. Sk'elep held it so that Naruto could see the fan and then he blew on it. The fan blades moved around the fan's axis several times before stopping after Sk'elep stopped blowing. He then looked Naruto in the eye and said, "As my breath moved the fan blades you must let natural energy move your chakra. As a sage here you must learn how to draw nature energy into you as it moves around you in the air. Once inside you, you'll need to let it mix with your own energies leaving a fragment of itself behind creating Sage chakra. Unlike a sage in the Elemental nations, a Sage on Earth is not vulnerable when gathering natural energy since fighting is movement. However, here you must learn to drawn on natural energy without thinking of drawing on it."

Naruto let out a small groan when he finally figured out what Sk'elep was trying to convey to him. "It's going to take a lot of work before I can be a sage here as well isn't it?"

"You can bet your ass that it's going to take you years to learn Naruto."

* * *

Author's note: just so you guys know, this should be the last slice of life chapter with Naruto arriving at Camp somewhere in the next chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto's twelfth birthday party was a simple affair. It was just him, Ms. Frizzle, and Arnold having some reindeer ramen in the kitchen for lunch. Arnold was the only one invited over by Naruto for his birthday. Arnold was one of Naruto's few friends at school and the only one who wouldn't be creped out by the idea of being in a teacher's house. Naruto had gotten a Gameboy from Ms. Frizzle with a couple of games. Arnold got him Pokemon Gold and a link cable so that Naruto could battle him.

Ms. Frizzle looked up from her plate and said, "So has anything interesting been happening lately boys?" She was sincerely hoping to hear that everything was back to normal. Naruto and she had been working overtime to take out all the monsters that had journeyed to the town over the summer. At least the part of Alaska they lived in was still within the reach of the Olympian's power. Most halfbloods considered Alaska to be the land beyond the gods. That was true and yet false at the same time. The land beyond the gods was actually all land above the Antonine Wall which was the furthest northern border that the Roman Empire had ever been able to control. So all land above 55 degrees 57 minutes North was beyond the gods. Furthermore, the gods' influence started to weaken at 55 degrees North or the location of Hadrian's Wall. This meant that almost all of Alaska was beyond the gods' control with them having a bit of influence over the southernmost tip. Since such a small sliver of the state was 'safe' it was easier for most halfbloods to label the entire state unsafe. This also meant that large stretches of Canada were unsafe as well, but almost all of the population centers of that country were in the safe zone. Besides, very few halfbloods came from Canada and those who did knew where to avoid going in their country.

Arnold shook his head and replied, "I haven't heard of anything interesting in town since Raphie tried to get a tattoo."

Naruto glanced at his friend and asked, "Why do I get the feeling that you've heard something interesting that was also extremely odd?"

A small chuckle left Arnold's mouth. Even after two years he still wasn't used to talking about the odd things he saw or heard around town. "Well, I did see something extremely odd two days ago that I'm still not entirely sure was real. By the stream on the north side of town there was this coyote running with a bag in its mouth from a bunch of women."

It took a good deal of self-control on Naruto's part to keep from groaning. Sk'elep had already roped him into that particular misadventure. The short story was that Sk'elep had passed Naruto a bag full of the local dryads' clothes that the spirit had swiped while the dryads were swimming. The dryads spotted Naruto with the bag and thinking that he was Sk'elep had proceeded to beat him up. When the dryads found out the truth they had apologized to him, but still it was embarrassing to be beaten up by a bunch of trees! In a flat tone Naruto replied, "Trust me Arnold that was real."

Arnold nodded his head trusting his friend. Naruto always seemed to get into strange situations and Arnold had seen on more than one occasion that there was more to those situations than most people realized. Naruto usually tried to brush off the unusual aspects of his adventures, but never tried to convince Arnold that he was seeing things. The clear sighted boy was starting to suspect that his best friend knew what he was seeing and keeping quiet for some reason.

Just as Naruto was about to ask for a third helping of ramen, Ms. Frizzle's statue of her mother started to glow. The statue was a birthday gift from Nathaniel she had gotten last year that would glow when monsters were near. A second later, everyone heard a powerful roar and looked out the kitchen window to see a dragon flying in the sky. Ms. Frizzle quickly turned to look at the boys and said, "Naruto I need you to take Arnold to Sanctuary NOW!"

Reacting on command, Naruto grabbed his stunned friend and dragged Arnold to the study room. Naruto quickly activated the hidden door to the safe room and pulled the still stunned boy into the vault like room. Once the boys were in the safe room the door swung shut behind them and locked itself. Naruto took a moment to look around at the room. There were two bunk beds, a walled off section with a toilet, food and water neatly stored on some shelves opposite the restroom area, several weapons on the wall, and a small tv showing video from the security cameras. All and all, it was a very good safe room.

On the tv the boys could see Ms. Frizzle arming herself with bow in addition to her usual armor and heading out to fight the dragon. Arnold turned around to look at Naruto. "What is going on here Naruto?"

Knowing that there was no way to hide what was going on Naruto quickly spoke. "You know all those 'crazy' things you keep seeing? They're all real. You're a clear sighted mortal which allows you to see through the Mist which is used by the gods to hide everything people consider part of mythology. Ms. Frizzle and I are demigods or halfbloods as we like to refer to ourselves. We're supposed to fight monsters like that to keep people safe. The monsters know that so they also like to attack us like what is happening now."

Arnold nervously watched as the dragon landed on one of the neighbor's house. Thankfully, those neighbors were out shopping so no one was killed. Ms. Frizzle was out of the house and had an arrow notched. She took a second to mark her target and let the arrow fly. The arrow soared through the air at speeds only a demigod or a hunter could create and buried itself to the fletching in the dragon's right eye.

Immediately the dragon let loose a roar of utter agony causing Ms. Frizzle to frown. That shot should have been an instant kill unless. She quickly rolled several feet to the left and reexamined the dragon. Its head and body shape didn't conform to any of the standard dragon breeds. Ms. Frizzle let out a small curse since that meant she was dealing with a mixed breed monster. Those were never fun because you had no idea what traits they got from their parents. At least the dragon was bleeding profusely and was now half blind.

Ms. Frizzle kept her calm and drew another arrow. Before notching it she pulled out a small vial and dipped the arrowhead in it. She quickly secured the vial, notched the arrow, and shot it into the dragon's left eye. The dragon left out another roar of agony and then started to choke. Seconds later the blind beast dropped its head to ground and dissolved. A small smirk appeared on Ms. Frizzle's face as she remembered her mother's suggestion for dealing with uppity monsters. Hydra's blood works on everything.

* * *

Several hours later, Ms. Frizzle and Naruto were sitting at the kitchen table going over everything that had happened in the attack and its aftermath. They already established that the neighbor's house was destroyed by small meteorite hitting the place. Arnold was brought up to speed on a few things and the young man promised to keep his mouth shut on the truth. Like most mortals brought into the supernatural loop, he realized that everyone not in the know would consider him crazy if he told the truth. He also was willing to stay Naruto's friend and promised to come over in a day or two for a pokemon battle.

Ms. Frizzle sighed and said, "I hope Tyche gives us a break soon or we're going to have trouble coming up with reasonable excuses for the mist."

A voice from the hall then said, "You won't have to worry about Tyche bothering you for a while." Naruto and Ms. Frizzle turned their heads to see Hera standing in the doorway with her double natured form under complete control. Hera smiled and said, "Tyche got some strange idea that a male halfblood who was under Artemis's general protection had too much good luck and that luck needed to be balanced. She'll be off of you guys' backs unless she wants Priapus as her husband."

Naruto felt a warm stirring in his heart when he looked upon Hera. He upon the goddess feeling a peace and joy he had never felt before that warmed him all over. Nervously and hopefully Naruto asked, "Mom?" Hera nodded her head and was almost instantly tackled by Naruto as he wrapped her in a hug. Tears of joy were freely flowing from Naruto's face as he hugged Hera. "Oh mom this is the best birthday ever! Thank you so much for being here. I missed you so much."

Hera looked down at her youngest child and smiled. None of her other children had such love and kindness in their hearts. Hebe came close, until she got stuck with the caveman for a husband and found out way her mother was always so bitter the hard way. What made Naruto's simple joy of being near her all the sweeter was that he had retained such a hope in his heart given all the crap he had put up with in his life.

The queen firmly returned the hug and replied, "I missed you too my son. However, I have been watching you when my duties permit it. What I have seen has made me very proud."

Naruto then looked up with a smile on his face when he heard his mother's words. He then got a little nervous and asked, "How long are you going to be here mom?"

Hera looked down at her son and sighed. "I can only be here for four hours each week. If I spent any more time, the portion of me still on Olympus would have her hands full keeping everything in order. Besides, I can only bend the rules so much even while having a human nature in this form."

Ms. Frizzle spoke up, "I'm happy for you Naruto that you get to spend so much time with your mother. To be honest, I'm a little jealous."

A wave of sympathy hit Hera thanks to her new human nature and experiences as Kushina. She sighed and replied, "I know the distance we have to keep from the mortal part of the family hurt you all. However there are good reasons for that distance. Too many halfbloods turned into terrors when the rules were relaxed. What do you think helped to bring in the Dark Ages? Besides, too many gods seem to think that being allowed to spend time with their halfblood children means they can father even more of them than usual. Even now it's hard enough convincing some of them that despite their dreams, Olympus cannot be run from a bordello."

Wanting to stop the impending tension, Naruto cheerfully spoke up. "Hey mom, do you want to play a board game?" The utter bizarreness of Naruto so casually asking a goddess to play quickly distracted Hera and Ms. Frizzle. Both women nodded their heads and quickly joined Naruto in the family room where Naruto pulled out Monopoly. For the rest of Hera's time the trio played monopoly and had a good time.

All too soon, Hera's time came to an end and she sighed. "I'm sorry Naruto, but I need to head back to Olympus now. I promise I'll be around sometime next week so that we can spend more time together."

Naruto frowned for a second and then smiled. "Okay mom I hope you have a good week and I look forward to seeing you soon. By the way, do you have a favorite food?"

Hera blinked her eyes for a second for a second before she realized what Naruto was hinting at. She smiled and replied, "Steak and Baklava are my favorites Naruto. But, I enjoy anything I get from you. Now it's getting late and you've got school in the morning so good night and try to have decent dreams."

* * *

Sk'elep watched as Naruto carefully went through the motions of the Sky in Rage Dance. This dance was one of several used to help prepare people to be sages. They taught the would-be sages to move without thinking and opened them up to sensing nature energy. There were subtle mistakes constantly being made and Naruto was too focused on his own movements for the dance to be of any use at the moment. Teaching this kid to unlearn the training he had received in the Elemental countries was a real pain in the ass. Seriously, it had been easier for Sk'elep to conduct that panty raid on Olympus back in the sixties than to get Naruto to unlearn everything.

Naruto finished the dance and turned to look at his teacher. "Hey Sk'elep, how well did I do on that dance?" The dance was almost like at kata and it exercised a lot of muscles in ways that Naruto wasn't used to. He'd never use it in place of his normal routine, but was a very useful addition.

Sk'elep sighed and replied, "You have most of the movements down. However, you made many mistakes in terms of moving your elbows too much or your feet landing in a slightly off position. Also, you interrupted the rhythm of the dance 5 times trying to remember your next set of moves. If you set aside an hour or so each day to practice you should have this dance memorized and be able to do it automatically in a month or so. Once you get this dance down we can move on to the Celebration of the Whirlwind dance. Now why don't you head back to your house to do your homework and I'll see you tomorrow for more training."

The young halfblood nodded his head and called out, "Okay Sk'elep. Have a nice day and please don't piss off more of the dryads you horny dog." With that said Naruto turned around and headed back into town.

Once Naruto had left the clearing Sk'elep sighed and called out, "You can come out now Kok'-kol." Without turning his head the spirit sensed his new companion fly out of a tree behind him. Kok'-kol landed in front of Sk'elep and then grew in size from a normal raven to the size of an average man. Sk'elep sighed and then said, "Why have you come here Kok'-kol?"

Kok'-kol gazed at Sk'elep for a second and then spoke. "I come to tell you what the Council of Regents has to say concerning your new pupil. As you can imagine there are a great many concerns being raised over a demi-deity being taught some of our arts. The fact that he already knows a variant and is from another realm has been enough to placate the more concerned regents."

Sk'elep rolled his eyes and replied, "Will you get to the point Kok'-kol. I swear you can be as boisterous as that deity Zeus when he goes on about how great he is and how different he and his Olympian 'gods' are from the titans."

The raven rolled his eyes and shot back, "Well Zeus wouldn't be nearly so arrogant if someone had rigged that little casting of lots correctly like they were supposed to do!" Sk'elep winced as his greatest failure was brought up yet again. At the dawn of the current Age he had been tasked to insure that Zeus became god of the underworld as he was the worst of the three brothers to be the so called king of the new group of deities. Unfortunately, Sk'elep had been a bit careless allowing corruptive influences to change the draw. The Fates and the Council of Regents had never truly forgiven the animal spirit for that screw up. Sure they had been able to mitigate or repair almost all the damage the moron made as 'king', but they wouldn't have to if Sk'elep hadn't dropped the ball in the first place.

Knowing that his friend had be slapped enough for the moment over that mistake, Kok'-kol decided to change subjects. "The Council has decided that you are to be Naruto's sole point of contact with us. Furthermore, you are to encourage him to keep us a secret for now and to not give him any more information on us. This Age is ending and we need to ensure that the transition to the Sixth Age goes along correctly. That cannot happen if the Olympians find out about us and decide that we're a threat to them."

Sk'elep sat cross legged on the ground and pulled out so jerky to eat. He took a quick bite and then spoke. "Look, I know that I'm not the Council's favorite guy, but aren't we going to have to fight the Olympian's anyway? I mean, those brats aren't exactly going to say to their successors 'our time is over so have fun while we go on retirement'. Furthermore, just who the hell is supposed to be running this Sixth age if things go correctly? I know that it's likely the Titans or the Giants if the Olympians make it pass round one will take over if things go wrong. But, who's supposed to be running things if all goes right?"

With a shrug of his wings the raven messenger replied, "I don't have a clue. The Great Spirit left instructions about this Age in his codex. However, only the Fates can translate the text and what they have translated is confusing as hell to the council. We know that a subset of the Olympians is going to be part of the Sixth Age's ruling court, but no clue as to who or what their roles will be. We don't even know who the Prophet is that is to herald the new age. The Council's current guess is that he'll be the Savor of Olympus talked about in that 'Great Prophecy' that has the Olympians in such a twist. Of course we are still open into other interpretations."

Sk'elep nodded his head agreeing with his old friend. To the spirits, prophecies were neither something to be feared or to be embraced. They simply were advice and you shouldn't try to prevent or control them. Sk'elep then started to talk about lighter subjects with Kok'-kol. The two old friends chatted for about half an hour before Kok'-kol had to leave.

* * *

Getting to Camp Halfblood could be either extremely easy or extremely hard for a young Halfblood. If you lived nearby and your guardian knew where to go it was very easy. On the other hand, if you lived on the other side of the country and were on the streets by yourself it was best for you to start praying for mercy. For his first trip to camp Naruto fell somewhat more towards the easy end of the spectrum. Ms. Frizzle wouldn't be accompanying Naruto for the trip since she had obligations in their home town. However, Ms. Frizzle did buy Naruto a plane ticket to Richmond, VA and a train ticket from Richmond to New York City.

Zeus had given halfbloods some travel rights through the skies after mortals invented hot air balloons and even more after the invention of airplanes. Actually, it was more like the king had been forced to give the halfbloods those rights as Poseidon threatened to summarily sink any ship carrying a child of Zeus while Hades would have them automatically thrown into the Fields of Punishment. The first hundred miles around Olympus were a strict no fly zone except on a pegasus. Halfbloods could fly within a radius of a thousand miles of Olympus without trouble if they first offered Zeus a sacrifice. There were no obligations for a regular halfblood to fly if they were flying past the thousand mile limit. Children of Poseidon and Hades had a two hundred mile no fly zone and were expected to offer a sacrifice to Zeus if they were flying within a two thousand mile radius of Mount Olympus. Depending on where a Halfblood's family was, the halfblood could fly into either Richmond or Boston and then take a train to New York were Camp security would pick them up at the station.

At the moment Naruto was calmly sitting in his seat on the train with his kanabo resting by his side and his backpack with his suitcase in an overhead bin. Naruto wished that he could have carried his supplies in a sealing scroll, but that would look too suspicious. Instead, he kept his spare weapons sealed on his jacket. The kanabo was out for easy usage if Naruto was attacked by a monster. Most people didn't question Naruto about the weapon since he was once again using the mist to make it look like a baseball bat. Every once and a while someone would ask Naruto why he had a baseball bat and the young ninja simply replied that he was on his way to baseball camp.

Part of Naruto had been concerned that the train he was on would be attacked by monsters. According to his mother, the part of a demigod's scent which monsters homed in on was their chakra signature. Naruto had been able to use his clan notes to make a seal to reduce his chakra signature and thus weaken his scent. He recalled hearing that ANBU had a jutsu to mask themselves from sensors and figured it was something similar to his seal.

Fortunately, Tyche had decided to cut Naruto a break and his train pulled into the station without any problems. Naruto quickly gathered his stuff and casually held his kanabo in one hand while it rested on his shoulder and he carried his suitcase in the other hand. There was no way this halfblood was going to chance Tyche's whims changing even with his mother's threat to the goddess. Naruto casually made his way through the train and stepped out onto the station.

Naruto blinked his eyes for a second to adjust to the light as he moved away from the platform. He sat down at a nearby bench and tried to sense his surroundings. While all Uzumaki were sensors to some degree, Naruto wasn't particularly gifted at that art and got a headache from the large crowd. The young halfblood shook his head and focused on trying to find a satyr since there were supposed to be a dozen or so of them here today to gather all the halfbloods.

About five minutes later Gleeson Hedge approached Naruto who was still sitting on the bench. The middle aged satyr grinned at Naruto's alertness. "So cupcake," the satyr casually replied, "You're the newbie that a graduate found and sent to Camp."

Naruto frowned and replied in ancient Greek, "Perhaps I am. However, how do I know that you are a friend or from Camp?" Thanks to his talks with Ms. Frizzle, Naruto figured using ancient Greek would be a good way of identifying camp personnel.

This inquiry earned Naruto a small chuckle from the satyr who likewise replied in ancient Greek. "Not bad cupcake, your guardian has obviously taught you to think. My name is Gleeson Hedge. I like your choice of weapon and that you're alert for possible danger. Too many satyrs and campers are pansies who forget about the law of the jungle. Now, why don't we head to the bus so that we can meet up with the pansies?"

Gleeson quickly led Naruto out of the train station and into the parking lot. The satyr quickly led Naruto to a bus, put halfblood's suitcase in storage, and then said, "Here you go Cupcake. I have to head back and try to find a few of pansies who are straggling. Stay on the bus and try not to get into trouble."

Naruto nodded his head and quickly got on board. He gave Argus a polite nod and received on in return from the camp security guard who was acting as a bus driver. All of the eyes covering the guard didn't bother Naruto since he was used to seeking bizarre things. He quickly found a seat since he was the first demigod on the bus and sat down.

A minute later a second demigod boarded the bus and spotted Naruto. He had a sunny disposition and walked over to Naruto. The new halfblood smiled and said, "Hi, I'm Lee Fletcher. Can I sit here with you?"

"Sure I'm Naruto," Naruto calmly replied. Once Lee was seated Naruto asked, "Why did you ask to sit here? I mean, you have the whole bus to choose a spot to sit at for the moment."

Lee tugged at his camp necklace which had a single bead on it. "I wanted to find out more about you Naruto. I know you didn't attend camp last year so I find it surprising that you're here. Most new camp members show up at camp as soon as their protectors can get them there."

Calmly Naruto replied, "I was found by an older halfblood who has been taking care of me for the past couple of years. She arranged for my transport to camp so that I could meet halfbloods my own age."

"That's cool, with how hard it can be for us it's great to hear about adult halfbloods doing well. By the way, my Dad is Apollo. Who is your parent?"

From the way Lee said parent it was obvious to Naruto that the boy was speaking solely about Naruto's divine lineage. Part of Naruto was a bit annoyed at his mortal line being dismissed, but he was able to hold his tongue on that matter. Naruto then replied, "I don't know my mother's true name yet. She told me that she'd claim me when I got to Camp and not before since she didn't want my scent to grow from the claiming while I was outside of Camp. Until I'm claimed she told me that I could call her Kushina since that's what my father knew her as."

Lee blinked his eyes in shock at what Naruto told him. He then eyed the kanabo and felt a twinge of jealousy. Sure he knew who his father was, but he had never personally met Apollo or received a gift from his father. Furthermore, the new kid had been assured of being claimed in a few hours by his mother. That meant that unless she was a minor goddess Naruto wouldn't have to stay at Cabin 11 like he had to for over a month!

Luckily, Lee was able to keep control of his jealousy and strike up a good conversation with Naruto. The conversation was interrupted at times as Lee said hello to halfbloods who came onto the bus. Naruto didn't mind these periodic interruptions as they allowed him to meet his fellow campers. Most of the campers were surprised to have a newbie on the bus with them. Thankfully, everyone who was surprised by Naruto being with them decided to take it as a good omen for the summer.

After about two hours Gleeson stood in front of Argus and said, "That's the last of them Glares. Now let me make sure that everyone's sitting down and then you can light the tires." Gleeson then turned to face the demigods and pulled out a megaphone. "Alright you pansies it's time to settle down. Remember to buckle up and keep all weapons secured at easy access. In the event of a monster attack you are reminded to use arrows until said monster boards the bus. At that time you are advised to switch to melee weapons. That is all and let's have a safe trip to camp." Gleeson then put the megaphone away and hopped onto one seats reserved for the satyrs.

It took Argus almost an hour to drive the bus from the train station to Camp Halfblood. Mostly, this was due to how heavy New York City traffic was. Once out of the city proper, the bus was able to speed down the road to Camp Halfblood. Argus drove past Halfblood Hill with its massive pine tree and continued on for another minute until he reached a fenced in driveway. He quickly pushed a button on the dashboard opening the gate and turned onto the driveway. The guard then drove the bus about the length of a football field to a small garage with several strawberry delivery trucks parked inside.

Once the bus was parked, Gleeson took up with his megaphone and called out. "Alright pansies, I want you to get off this bus in an orderly fashion. You will retrieve your bag from the satyr who will be unloading them from storage. Once you have your bag you WILL wait by the bus or you will lose desert privileges for the next week. After everyone has retrieved their bags we will all head up to the Big House to check in. Do you understand me?"

There was a round of yes sir from the halfbloods as they quickly ran off the bus. Naruto heard Gleeson muttering something about punks. He couldn't stay to ask Gleeson what he was talking about because of the other campers pushing to exit the bus. Once Naruto was out of the bus he had to wait the longest to get his suitcase since his was buried by all the others. Eventually a young satyr named Grover handed Naruto his suitcase before the young nervously walked away.

Gleeson was now at the head of the group and he called out, "Alright pansies follow me to the Big House!" The middle aged satyr trotted at a quick stride to avoid being run over by the eager campers. Gleeson and his small herd of demigods reached the Big House just in time for Chiron to open the door.

The ancient trainer of heroes smiled at his returning students. In a happy voice he called out, "Hello again my pupils. It is good to see you all-" Chiron stopped in mid-sentence and his eyes bulged out in shock.

Naturally, all of the nearby campers and satyrs were blinking their eyes in shock. What could cause their instructor, who had pretty much seen everything that could exist in the world, into a state of shocked catatonia? Mr. D walked over to the door and started mumbling. "What caused you to stop like that Chiron? Don't tell me that the brats have left you speechless so-" Mr. D also stopped in mid-sentence as soon as he came into the group's view. The Olympian started to mutter incoherently before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and the god fell to the floor unconscious.

Lee remembered what Naruto had said earlier on the bus and got an idea as to what was causing Chiron and Mr. D act in that manner. He turned and looked above Naruto's head to see a holographic like peacock feather floating above the newest camper. Lee quickly remembered which goddess had that symbol and he felt himself becoming lightheaded from shock. Somehow, the young teenager found the strength to yell out, "By the gods. Naruto is the son of Hera!"


	6. Chapter 6

The campers around Naruto continued to stare at Hera's symbol in shock and disbelief. Why in Tatarus did she have a halfblood? That the Queen of the Gods could have a half-blood had never been in doubt among the older campers. Given that she was married to the unofficial god of man whores most campers to graduate Camp had been wondering when she'd crack and have an affair just so that Zeus could experience what unfaithfulness felt like. After all, affairs were sadly a part of marriage as well. It was just that the odds were so low of this ever happening that every halfblood figured it would never happen in their lifetime.

Chiron soon came out of his shock and quickly double checked to make sure he hadn't imagined seeing the symbol. Once he had confirmed it the old centaur said, "Welcome to Camp Halfblood, Naruto son of Hera the Queen of Heaven, Goddess of Marriage, Women, and birth." This was not what Chiron had been expecting when his old student contacted him about a halfblood child that she was caring for, but he knew how to adapt.

It was a good thing that Chiron was taking charge of things as he led the other campers in the respectful bow in respect to the halfblood's parent for making the child's lineage known. Mr. D had come to when Chiron started the traditional announcement and thanks. The Olympian had to hand it to Chiron with how smoothly he recovered from the surprise. He decided not to say anything and that the current situation required extreme measures. Mr. D walked over to a wall, opened a hidden door revealing a safe. As the campers finished their bow their divine overseer opened the safe and pulled out a bottle of aged old Cossack vodka. Mr. D immediately opened the bottle and stared downing. Restrictions be damned, there was no way that he'd deal with this mess sober.

Many of the campers saw Mr. D drinking and immediately looked up at the sky expecting the telltale rumble of Zeus warning his son about his restrictions. No rumble came as expected so several campers started to talk about how Zeus might be in a state of shock. That only caused the campers to start talking amongst themselves over what all of this could mean.

Naruto quietly started edging away from the nervous and chatting campers. Hearing that his mother was Hera wasn't a shock to the shinobi. In all honesty, he could have figured it out months ago had he bothered to put the clues together. The only reason why Naruto didn't try was because his mother asked him not to do so. Kushina, no it would probably be best for him to call her Hera from now on, had gone through so much trouble to be able to spend time with him. There was no way in Tatarus that he was going to spit on that love and effort by going against her wishes; especially when the wish had been so simple.

Chiron noticed Naruto discreetly putting some distance between him and the other campers. For a second the old teacher thought that Naruto was afraid. However, a glance at the boy's eyes convinced Chiron otherwise. Those were not the eyes of someone who was afraid. They were the eyes of someone who had been discriminated against before and refused to let that hurt or bother them. Part of Chiron was worried and sad that someone so young could have those eyes. What had happened to Naruto before his old student took him in that could give the boy those eyes? Experience told Chiron that he wouldn't get any answers until Naruto decided to tell him.

Wanting to keep everything under control Chiron calmly spoke to his pupils. "Well now let's get you all settled in. Children please head to your cabins. Some of you will need to resort sleeping arrangements in your cabins with your councilors as we've received over half a dozen new campers since the end of summer. Naruto you will be coming with me since you're new to camp and you don't have a cabin mate to show you around."

None of the campers argued with Chiron when he told them to go to their cabins. Besides, this would let them tell everyone about what they had just witnessed. Chiron waited for the other campers to leave before approaching Naruto. Once the other campers had left the Big House, Chiron smiled and said, "Please follow me Naruto so I can show you around the camp."

The teacher and new student calmly walked out of the Big House letting Mr. D move on to his second bottle of vodka in peace. Once outside the Big House, Chiron began an impromptu lecture for Naruto. "This, as I'm sure you know, is the Big House. We use it as the Camp's headquarters, medical center, and if necessary as a safe house. It's where all camp counselor meetings are held. As the only halfblood child of Hera, you are automatically the counselor for Cabin 2. Once our tour is complete, I will have a copy of the camp rulebook sent to your cabin so that you will know the rules to enforce. Now before we begin this tour in earnest I have to ask if you've noticed that you've used any unusual abilities. Every halfblood inherits some unique traits from their divine lineage; some inherit certain traits stronger than their other siblings. Here at Camp we try to keep track of those abilities so that we can help you and other campers learn how to better use your gifts. Usually this doesn't need to be asked as almost all divine traits are in the camp records. However, you are the first halfblood of Hera's lineage so I don't know what to expect."

For a second Naruto felt like telling Chiron to mind his own business even if the boy's abilities were the centaur's business. He was a loyal ninja and the idea of letting someone unconnected to village know about his abilities didn't sit right with him. Naruto quickly curbed that impulse and replied, "I have a few unique abilities from the other campers thanks to my father's lineage. However, I have unusually strong physical strength compared to his people so that's likely something I got from my mother. Don't ask me anything else about my father's people since they prefer to be isolated from regular mortals."

Chiron nodded his head accepting Naruto's statement. While he was interested in these abilities that Naruto hinted about, they weren't important for the moment. The centaur smiled and said, "Really? I do hope word eventually reaches my departed student Leonardo of your gift. He had theorized that a child of Hera would display unusual strength given the differences between Heracles and his other brothers. Now, let me show you the training grounds where you'll be trained in everything a hero needs to know in order to survive."

It was a quick walk for the duo to reach the training grounds. Chiron thoroughly explained what Naruto would be learning and why he needed to learn each skill. This was an extremely through lecture and Chiron planned it that way so that his other students could learn about Naruto's existence before meeting him. Chiron knew that there would be some staring and whispering when Naruto was brought to the cabins, but he hoped to let things settle out a bit so it would be calmer for Naruto. Once all of Naruto's future classes were explained, Chiron padded out their time by working out Naruto's training schedule for the next two weeks. Most of the padded was accomplished by Chiron explaining the benefits and drawbacks of taking classes with different cabins.

Eventually the centaur could not delay the tour any longer without arousing either Naruto's suspicions or annoyance. Fortunately for Chiron, he correctly judged that point and started to lead Naruto to the cabins just before that point. Naruto carefully watched the other campers as he was led passed the cabins. Everyone was staring at him with interest and a hint of nervousness. Their stares made Naruto feel a little uncomfortable, but he could deal with them since there wasn't any hatred like the stares he once got in Konoha. As Naruto walked past each cabin its residents would turn their heads to focus on Cabin 2.

As soon as Naruto reached his cabin he opened the door without even waiting for Chiron to say he could enter. The other campers and Chiron all strained a bit to look inside Cabin 2 to see how Hera had decorated it. Cabin 2's interior was perhaps the most unique out of all the cabins. The wall opposite the door was painted white with the Uzumaki clan seal painted on the wall from the floor to the ceiling. The west wall of the cabin was covered in frescos showing famous seems from mythology featuring Hera that looked like they had been done by a renaissance painter. On the east wall were frescos of Kushina's life done in a traditional Japanese art style. Aligned with the door and clan seal was a raised king-sized bed with drawers along the bed's side. There was a weapons rack on either side of the bed against the wall. The rack on the west side had traditional Grecian weapons while the other one had traditional shinobi weapons. Between the door and the bed were four large objects in equal distance from each other. Naruto's eyes were immediately drawn to his mother's statue and altar on the western row closest to the cabin door. Opposite Hera's statue was a study desk set up for seal usage with the inks and brushes neatly placed on top of it. Closer to the bed were two mannequins with one set up with Greek armor and the other with shinobi armor.

Naruto quickly entered his cabin and instantly felt at home. Everything about the cabin felt comfortable peaceful. The last time Naruto remembered being in a place that made him feel this comfortable was with the Toads learning the Sage Arts. Naruto turned around to smile at Chiron when he noticed some writing on wall with the door. On one side the writing was in Greek while on the other side the writing was in Elemental kanji. Both texts had the same message written down: "This is the cabin of the Goddess Hera, whose mortal self is Kushina. Its purpose is to be a home for her youngest child and only demigod, Naruto Uzumaki."

* * *

Up on Olympus, Hera was calmly sipping a pomegranate flavored tea on the front porch of her palace while reading Pride and Prejudice. There was a slightly ominous aura around the mountain as the news of her claiming Naruto made its way among the minor deities. A small smirk appeared on her face as she read Mr. Darcy's rather rude first marriage proposal. Hera wondered for a second if the silence on Olympus was due to the fact that she had a halfblood or the fact that Zeus accidentally destroyed the roof of his palace with his master bolt. For a god who had over five thousand illegitimate children, that she was aware of, he couldn't handle being on the other side of the situation. That Naruto wasn't illegitimate would probably send her 'dear' husband into a comma. She'd have to let Zeus in on that fact once he woke up from his fainting spell.

Hera was about to return her attention to her book when she felt an Olympian approaching her. The queen looked up from her book and towards the path to her temple. Artemis was running to Hera's palace as fast as the goddess could. The elder goddess calmly put her bookmarker in the book and set it down on a nearby stand. As soon as Artemis reached the palace's steps the queen called out, "What took you so long to come here? I was honestly expecting to see you sooner than this Artemis after my son's claiming."

To Hera's surprise, Artemis's eyes conveyed the look of a terrified deer and an enraged wolf at the same time. There was a pained and nervous tone to the huntress's voices as she demanded, "Why? Why did you claim Naruto now?"

Hera's nostrils flared and her eyes started to burn with indignation. "Why did I claim Naruto now? Why by Tatarus should I have waited to claim him! The other gods and goddesses might want the ego boost of claiming their children when they do something that honors them, but I don't need it. Besides I promised Naruto that I'd claim him when he got to camp and I intend to keep my oaths."

Seeing that the younger goddess had lost her steam, Hera increased the pressure on Artemis. "Let's just get to the real reason you're upset about Naruto's claiming. This isn't about some sense of 'fairness' or whatever other flimsy argument you're thinking of using. Your problem with Naruto's claiming is that now everyone knows about his existence. More specifically, Aphrodite knows about his existence which means she'll soon be trying to maneuver someone else to be his bride. After all, she's been simmering with rage over your bet these past three millennia."

Artemis lost all of her anger and became as pale as a shade. The Goddess of Love's furry over the Hunters becoming untouchable to her was legendary among the Olympians. Whenever Aphrodite thought about the bet she became a vengeful bitch and would calm down by planning the worst brothels in existence to sentence the hunters to if she ever got her hands on them. The phrase 'Hell has no furry like a woman scorned' had its origins with Aphrodite and her temper. The now terrified goddess whispered, "Why did it have to be so soon?"

With a roll of her eyes Hera replied, "I gave you a two years heads up about Naruto's existence Artemis. It's not my fault you wasted them moping about a problem you created. For the greatest huntress in existence you can't trap the most common prey for a woman: the heart of a young man."

The younger goddess recoiled as if Hera had punched her in the gut. Artemis knew the painful truth of Hera's words. She had wasted valuable time in trying to win Naruto's hand in marriage. After The Incident, as she labeled her meeting with Naruto, Artemis couldn't get within a hundred miles of Naruto without feeling overwhelmed by shame and embarrassment. She'd visit him next week was what she always told herself and those next weeks had added up into months. Even now, just thinking of being married made the maiden goddess want to bolt.

However, Artemis would not let Aphrodite get her hands on her hunters for the spiteful goddess's abuse. She looked up at Hera and firmly said, "Tell me everything there is to know about Naruto. What are his favorite foods, what games does he like, and what his dreams for the future? I need to know everything I can about him if I am to have a shot at winning his heart. I know you've been spending quite a lot of time with him in that double-nature state of yours so you must know what I need."

Artemis's request surprised Hera as she figured that her niece, several hundred years ago Hera had found that thinking of her husband's illegitimate children as her nieces and nephews made them easier to get along with, would leave and continue to mope about her situation. Hera narrowed her eyes slightly weighing her annoyance with Artemis's procrastination against her disgust for Aphrodite. After a few seconds of deep thought Hera spoke. "I will give you what you want Artemis, but not for free."

Instantly Artemis blurted out, "What do you want for it?" Part of Artemis couldn't believe her good luck. Hera was not a very forgiving goddess if she felt that you wasted any help she gave you. The younger goddess immediately started to think of what she could do to repay Hera for the information. Usually favors between deities was paid with support for issues or transfer of Favor stockpiles. Occasionally a deity would repay a favor with another favor or a minor task, but that was typically only for major requests.

Seconds after being asked, Hera gave her answer. "To get this information you must swear to do the following on your wedding. You will have your hunters strip you of your wedding gown, bind you to a stone alter to be constructed in a forest glen, and then have your marriage consummated while bound to the altar as your hunters look on." Hera saw all of the ichtor drain from Artemis's face and a vindictive smirk appeared on the elder goddess's face. "Did you really think I would give Naruto up to you for something insignificant? There is almost nothing you can offer me. You have only meager Favor reserves and your stances on the upcoming council issues will have you naturally aligning with my own positions. I have no outstanding issues you could resolve for me and let's face it, you'd be owing me for several thousand years if you tried to deal on pure favor."

Hera's voice took on a softer and slightly more caring tone. "Look at it from this way Artemis, you already have to give up your virginity if you wish to save your hunters. For a little extra embarrassment and shame you can gain a massive advantage in winning Naruto's heart. I swear by Styx that the information I will give you will be 100 percent accurate and will give you the means to win Naruto as a husband should you chose to use it in that manner."

Privately, the human part of Hera saw this all as a massive prank on Artemis. Naruto had rescuing the distressed damsel and helping her to solve her problems down to a science. What made it all more hilarious to Hera was she estimated that there was a seventy to eighty percent chance that Artemis would have wanted to fuck Naruto when he got older even if she didn't have that bet hanging over her head. As a Jonin Kunoichi, Kushina had been extensively trained on how to analyze personalities and what would attract or repulse someone. Thankfully she had never had to do any seduction missions, but she still had all the skills needed. She could thus see that Artemis and Naruto were reasonably compatible personality wise. In addition to that, Artemis was reaching the highpoint in her childbirth powers.

As the deities who interacted with mortals or halfbloods the least, both Hera and Hestia had become very good at observing their fellow deities. One of the things that the sisters had noticed is that gods or goddesses who had several domains under their jurisdiction where one domain would have more influence for a time than the other domains and then it would shift. It was fairly subtle shift in a god's perspective unlike changing between one's Roman or Greek aspects. Every two to three hundred years Artemis started to favor one mortal or halfblood who had the all of the characteristics that made a good husband and loving father. The one who was the closest to becoming Artemis's boyfriend was Orion who was also the first person she favored and the most famous.

Hera looked Artemis in the eye and said, "You've heard my offer so now you must decide. What are you going to do Artemis?"

* * *

While Artemis made her decision on Hera's offer, Naruto finished putting the last of his belongings away. The very last item put away was his Kanabo which rested on a special stand at the foot of his bed in the false foot board. It had been easy for Naruto to find the hidden weapons stand since those were common for shinobi. The Kanabo had been placed there since Naruto felt it was a fusion of his mother's two halves and it would disrespectful to place it with the weapons associated with one part of her.

Once everything was secured, Naruto walked over to the statue of his mother and bowed. He then pulled out a stick of incense and a small burner. The burner was reverently set on the altar and then the incense was placed into the burner. Naruto pulled out a match, struck it, and then lit the incense. In a low and reverent voice Naruto prayed, "Beloved and honorable Mother, this one humbly requests that you turn you gaze to him. Grant this one but a small portion of the understanding and wisdom which you have gathered in your lifetime. This one asks this boon not for glory, but to honor the Clan and all who have come before him."

Part of Naruto felt a little weird addressing his mother with traditional ancestral benediction from Konoha. On the one hand the benediction was intended for deceased relatives and his mother was definitely alive. On the other hand, it seem completely insulting to Naruto for him asked dead mortals for help when he could ask his divine mother for aid. Ancestor veneration was almost as important as worshiping the Kami back in the elemental countries. It would come as a shock to his old comrades, but Naruto knew all about how to show one's ancestors and the kami respect. He just hadn't put it into practice much since he didn't know about his lineage for the longest time and he had also figured the kami were using him as a joke. Now that he was older and wiser, Naruto wished he had started showing more respect earlier in his life.

A polite knock on the cabin door pulled Naruto from his self-reflection. He quickly walked to the door and opened it. At the door was a ten year old blonde girl with storm grey eyes holding a large book. The girl gave Naruto a curious glance and then said, "Hello. Chiron wants you to have this." She then handed Naruto the book which a quick glance revealed to be councilor's handbook.

Naruto gave the girl a small smile and said, "Thank you for delivering this to me. Could you tell me your name?" He might as well start trying to make friends here at camp.

The girl smiled proudly and said, "I'm Annabeth Chase of Cabin 6."

Naruto gave Annabeth a small smile and replied, "It's good to meet you Annabeth. Would you like to come in?"

Annabeth nodded her head eager to learn more about Cabin 2. It was the only cabin which Cabin 6's library had no information on. Sure, there had been architectural notes on the cabin's exterior, but there was nothing about the inside of the cabin. Naruto stepped aside so that Annabeth could enter the cabin. She looked around and was confused by the décor. After a few moments of confusion Annabeth turned to Naruto and asked, "What is with all of the oriental themes? There's nothing in the stories of your mother connecting her to the Far East."

Unable to stop himself, Naruto's face gained a fox like grin. "There's more to my mother than what you hear about her in the old myths. After all, she is the only Olympian to be both divine and human."

Immediately Annabeth blurted out, "That's impossible! A god or goddess can't become a human. If they somehow did that impossible transformation then they wouldn't be gods anymore. Even when a Hero occasionally is ascended to being a god like Heracles they stop being human."

Naruto shook his head and replied, "You misunderstand me Annabeth. My mother isn't a human and she isn't just a goddess anymore. She is both a goddess and a mortal. According to what she told me she once was so angry that she accidentally split a part of herself off and that fragment somehow became born as a regular mortal known as Kushina Uzumaki. She was distinct from her divine self, but still a part of her. Eventually, Kushina married and Hera willed some more of her essence into her mortal self so that she could have me. When Kushina died, that fragment of Hera returned to her divine self and brought her now mortal nature with it."

Annabeth scrunched her face slightly as she tried to make heads or tails out of what Naruto had just told her. What he had told her didn't mesh well with what she had been taught by her siblings. She then remembered something interesting in what Naruto told her. "Your mother told you this? Naruto, our parents can't interact with us much because of how busy they are and some old rules."

To her surprise Naruto smirked. "I know that Annabeth and your right that the gods cannot visit their children most of the time due to old laws. However, mom can bend around that law by using her human nature. She can use her duel natures to get around the weaknesses inherent to each of them. Now why don't we head out and play some basketball?"

Happy to do something that didn't make her ten year old head hurt, Annabeth nodded her head. The two halfbloods quickly exited Cabin 2 and headed for one of the nearby basketball hoops. Naruto grabbed a ball from a nearby shelf and gently tossed it to Annabeth. She caught the ball and then gave him an inquisitive glance. Naruto smiled and said, "Since it's just the two of us I figured we could shoot some hoops. Since ladies should go first you've the first shot."

Athena's youngest child at camp nodded her head and then dribbled the ball for a few seconds. Once Annabeth was warmed up she stopped dribbling and tried a jump shot. The basketball hit the backboard just like she intended. However, Annabeth put just a touch too much force into her shot and the ball hit the hoop's rim instead of going into the hoop. The ball bounced off of the rim and hit the ground causing Annabeth to frown slightly. She had made that shot several dozen times before so why the problems now?

Naruto quickly caught the basketball and then smiled at Annabeth. "That was a very good try Annabeth. However, you might want to put less power in your jumps next time." Naruto walked over to be next to Annabeth and casually made a two point shoot. In all honesty, the hardest part of the shot for Naruto was holding back his strength so that he didn't damage the hoop. He then caught the basketball and handed it back to Annabeth.

Ball in hand, the young girl thought about Naruto's suggestion for a second. Annabeth made a second jump shot jumping just a tad less than she had before. This time the ball hit the backboard and bounced off to fall through the hoop perfectly. Annabeth walked over to the basketball and passed it to Naruto. "Thanks for the advice. How did you know I was putting too much power into my jump?"

With a smile Naruto replied, "One of my friends back up in Alaska loves making jump shots. He always had a problem after a growth spurt until he adjusted for increased size and power."

Naruto would have said more except that an aggressive voice yelled out at him, "Hey new blood!" He turned around to see half a dozen mean looking teenagers that would have scared even the typical high school jocks into surrendering their lunch money. To Naruto, they were nothing on his threat meter having judged their powers about what would be the typical high end genin abilities. The leader the group was about eighteen and decked out like an outlaw biker. "There's a little initiation here at Camp you need undergo." The tone of the speaker's voice and the nasty looks on the gang's faces that their little initiation was some sort of humiliation.

Two of the older teens in the group went to grab Naruto and they were sent flying by Naruto's punches. Naruto then calmly sent the remaining members of the troublemakers a blast of his killing intent freezing them in their tracts. Naruto walked over to the group, grabbed their leader, and forced the teen to his knees. "You are scum nephew."

Several of the nearby campers widened their eyes in shock at Naruto's announcement. Naruto increased the volume of his voice so that everyone could hear. "I had been told that my nephews and nieces in Cabin 5 had started to become bullies by my caretaker when she was in Camp Halfblood. We had both hoped that you all would be more mature than your older siblings. However, it seems that you've only gotten worse. In my birth land there are few things more despicable than attacking your kin outside of training. Scums who did so were punished very severely."

Naruto glanced at Cabin 5 and quickly scanned it with his mediocre sensor abilities. Sensing no one inside, a prankster grin appeared on his face. He then looked up at the sky for a second and mentally prayed, 'Brother Ares, I what I am about to do is not to disrespect you, but to teach your children a valuable lesson.' Naruto then glanced at the still KI frozen campers and gave a nasty smirk. "As your Uncle I deem you all unworthy of the privilege of sleeping in your Cabin. The duration of which will last as long as it takes you to rebuild your cabin!"

As soon as Naruto finished speaking he slammed his fist into the ground. Immediately, a fissure split the ground in front of Naruto and raced off towards Cabin 5. Within seconds the war god's cabin was split in two with the fragments collapsing to the ground. The fissure set off the landmines that the Ares campers had surrounding their cabin with destroying the ruins even more. Once the last of the explosions ended, Naruto dusted off his hands and picked up the basketball. He then turned to gaping Annabeth and called out, "Hey Annabeth! Do you want to continue our game of hoops?"


	7. Chapter 7

Naruto's arrival hit Camp Halfblood like the maelstrom he was named after. After all, he had been claimed as Hera's first halfblood in existence and then destroyed a cabin before dinner. A cabin tended to get destroyed once every decade or so and Cabin 5 held the honor of being destroyed the most. Cabin 10 ironically enough was second place in the most destroyed category, but that was until you factored how much those campers annoyed the Hunters. However, no cabin had ever been destroyed in the manner that Naruto had destroyed Cabin 5.

Dinner that first night had been a welcomed respite in the oncoming craziness even if it had its own level of bizarreness. Naruto had invited all of Cabin 5 to dine with him at Cabin 2's table since their table had been a causality of Naruto's punch. Chiron tried to tell Naruto that the Campers were supposed to eat at their own tables, but Naruto wouldn't hear of it. He pointed out that Cabin 5 currently didn't have a table and as his nieces and nephews it was fine for them to sit at their grandmother's table. Since they didn't want to eat in the dirt, most of Ares's children join Naruto at Cabin 2's table. To be on the safe side, they did all offer Hera the second best portion of their meals as thanks.

The chaos really started up again a little past midnight when agonizing cries started to be heard throughout the camp. More and more campers woke up in fright as the chorus of agony grew louder from more and more voices joining it. No one dared to venture out of their cabins to investigate the terrifying commotion. Even the Ares Campers remained huddled behind the hastily fortified remains of their cabin. They weren't about to confront the Trans-Tatarus Chorus on why they decided to give a midnight show at Camp.

When morning came the campers discovered that the chorus of agony was the sentry harpies. All of them were tied up to the amphitheater's walls with blindfolds over their eyes and clay in their ears. All of them were covered in bruises and a couple of the nastier ones had broken bones. Those with broken bones all had the bones set professionally with splints. Eventually, it came out that Naruto had come out for some ninja training and objected to the harpies' attempt to eat him. That set off a tense debate between Chiron and Naruto over training. Chiron wanted Naruto to train with the other campers and Naruto wasn't about to let someone who wasn't an approved allied ninja see his ninja training or even tell Chiron what skills he was training. Eventually, Naruto got Chiron to agree to give him two hours a night three days a week for 'special' late night solo training. The harpies were quite eager to give Naruto a special pass for those nightly training sessions as they didn't want to have the crap kicked out of them again.

Most people at Camp weren't sure what to make of Naruto. On the one hand he had completely torn the Ares campers apart. But on the other hand, he kept letting those he didn't catch bullying others sit at his table for meals. During the campers down times he was constantly playing with the younger campers. Board games, card games, or just plain old-fashion sports it didn't seem to matter to Naruto as long as his 'younger cousins' were having fun. However, Naruto clearly showed that he was Ares and Enyo's younger brother when it came to training. He always put his best effort into every one of his training activities and expected everyone else to show the same commitment to their own training. Thanks to Naruto's years of ninja training he was quickly bumped up to an assistant trainer for most weapons types and for physical conditioning with the younger campers.

Some of the older campers were a little annoyed at Naruto's "favoritism" at becoming an assistant trainer after only two days at Camp. However, only the Aphrodite campers could really complain about Naruto's training methods. Naruto did all of the training he expected his students to do right with them and helped out those who needed help. If someone honestly couldn't do the exercises they were required to do than Naruto simply asked them to do what they could and then go to the bench. Problems only occurred if you tried to be lazy and shirk off your training. The Aphrodite campers tried to do their usual routine of sitting around to trade gossip and beauty tips only to have a bag of manure explode on them. Every time the Aphrodite campers tried to do that after the first incident resulted in Naruto acquiring a new bag to dump on them.

Aphrodite's children tried to raise a stink over Naruto's so called abusive pranks, but that didn't get them far. Mr. D quite frankly didn't care what happened in Camp as long as no one died or his sons didn't get hurt. Chiron was honestly wondering why he didn't try a similar strategy to Naruto's decades ago to get Aphrodite's children to train. The younger members of Cabin 10 along with some of the less stuck-up older members had quickly caught on that they wouldn't get covered in shit if they trained. Sweat was easier to wash off afterwards.

On the subject of pranks, the camp quickly found itself in the middle of a friendly prank war between Naruto and Hermes' children. Since Naruto kept his Kage Bunshin jutsu secret, along with all his other techniques, no one could figure out when he had the time to set up the pranks. At least the prank war was kept at a light-hearted level as there seemed to be silent agreement between the belligerent cabins to keep their little war on a friendly level. Chiron didn't mind the prank war since it didn't disrupt the camp's daily activities and they kept from targeting uninvolved campers.

However, the chaos that had been hitting camp paled in comparison to what happened on Friday. Dionysus was as usual sitting in the Big House drinking a diet coke and reading one of his wine magazines when he suddenly felt another Olympian transport themselves into the Big House. Immediately, Dionysus got up and turned to look at who his unexpected guest was. Mr. D's eyes widened in shock as Hera appeared in the rec room.

Hera turned around and gave Dionysus a knowing smirk. "I'm here to visit my son. Before you say anything about the laws, observe." Hera snapped her fingers and shifted into her duel-natured form. Mr. D's eyes bulged out in shock and he hit the floor unconscious. Sure, he and all the other gods had heard about Hera's time as Kushina, but most of them had a lot of trouble believing it. Hera slowly walked to the back door of the Big House taking her time and taking in the surroundings. She figured that there would be a lot of questions from the halfbloods and probably a bit of disbelief since the Olympians typically avoided camp to keep them from breaking the laws.

As Hera planned, most of the campers were waiting outside Big House. Many halfbloods had an internal sensor when it came to the mystical although only a few could use that talent as more that a feeling something was about to happen. Those halfbloods had immediately rushed to the Big House having sensed her arrival and the rest followed because of confusion or just to see what was going on. As soon as Hera opened the door she was tackled by Naruto. "Mom, it's so good to see you again!"

Naruto's announcement caused a wave of murmuring throughout the assembled crowd. Most halfbloods could sense that Hera was a goddess even with her human nature throwing things out of perspective. However, many of them were starting to get upset that Naruto had his divine parent visit him while theirs wouldn't visit them. Hera quickly scooped Naruto up in a hug and replied, "It's good to see you to Naruto."

Chiron walked into the gathering and politely bowed his head to his half-sister. He was a bit surprised by Hera's change in looks but not too much. The gods changed the looks of their standard forms a bit every few centuries even if certain traits stayed the same. Chiron then said, "Lady Hera it is an unexpected honor to have you visit the Camp. Rarely are the gods and goddesses able to take the time to visit due to the many duties they have to handle." Chrion's stress on the word duty made it obvious what he was hinting at.

A fox like grin appeared on Hera's face as she said, "I can imagine Chiron. Luckily for me, the human nature I acquired some time ago has given me some unique ways of taking care of my duties." Hera then set Naruto down and said to him, "Son your brother Ares wanted me to thank you for inviting my grandchildren to dine with you while his cabin is being rebuilt. He isn't too happy about you wrecking it, but Ares respects why you did it. I also wanted to give you my thanks for your consideration." As the goddess of marriage Hera had an inbuilt dislike for illegitimacy which was why she tended to prefer mortal champions over halfblood champions when possible. That's not to say she hated or disliked halfbloods in principle, Zeus's children being an exception; she just preferred champions whose nature didn't clash with her own. It was also why she previously tended to favor having her grandchildren by Ares or Enyo as her halfblood champions over those from Hephaestus or Hebe. Hera liked all her grandchildren as any grandmother would and secretly found Hephaestus's and Hebe's kids to be more pleasant. Her nature and connection to matrimony just wouldn't accept someone illegitimate who was born from an affair as a champion. The fact that her son and daughter's spouses were a slut and a buffoon respectfully didn't matter to her nature.

None of the campers were quite sure of what to make of Hera's appearance. Most of the Ares campers were happy at their grandmother's approval and the fact that their father wasn't angry with Naruto. Only the nastiest of the older Ares campers and the vainest of the Aphrodite campers could figure out a way to hate him. Many of the campers were just simply confused by Hera's appearance and that she wasn't acting as vicious as they had heard of in most myths. The fact that she only acted like a bitch to Zeus's halfblood bastards had apparently skipped their minds. A decent minority were jealous of Naruto since he got to be with his mother.

Hera led Naruto off to the side for a bit so that they could talk in private. Once they were alone Hera said, "Naruto I want you to know that it's okay for you to demonstrate your shinobi abilities as long as you don't show off. For instance you may use your abilities as an edge in the camp's capture the flag games, but I don't want you to fight like you were battling Pein again. I've also sent a dream message to Tsunade about giving you clearance to train the campers. However, I don't expect to get a response for several more months due to the time differences between dimensions. Until then you are to treat everyone as if they are civilians okay?"

Naruto nodded his head and replied, "I understand mom."

* * *

While Hera was meeting with Naruto, Artemis was holding an all hunters meeting at her camp in Montana. Artemis looked on her adopted daughters and reminded herself why she was going to do what she planned doing. The hunters were sitting in front of Artemis almost like students in front of a teacher. All of them looked nervous as they could sense their mistress's unease.

Knowing that she couldn't delay it any longer Artemis spoke, "Girls I have an important announcement to make. Tomorrow we will be breaking camp and heading back east. It is my intension to have the hunt relocated to Camp Halfblood in two weeks' time and remain there for the duration of the camp's summer session."

All of the hunters were outraged at this declaration and quite vocally upset. Artemis let them vent for a few moments and then cut her hunters off by raising her hand. Once the hunters were quiet Artemis continued. "I know none of you like going to Camp and spending time there." Her former mortal hunters along with the nymph hunters never felt at home in Camp while her halfblood hunters were typically ostracized by their former cabin members. Artemis felt a twist in her heart as she continued on. "The sad fact of the matter is that I need continuous access to Camp Halfblood and that can regrettably only be achieved by having you stay at the camp. Please forgive me for doing this to you, but I'm only doing this for your safety."

Caroline, a mortal hunter who had joined back in the 1700s, looked up at her mistress in confusion while holding onto her hunting dog Fang. "Why do you need to do this Lady Artemis? What could possibly take you more than a short trip to accomplish?" Caroline had a good deal of hero-worship for her mother figure like all the hunters. She had been found by Artemis while trying to help her mortally wounded brother who had been wounded rescuing her from their abusive father. Her brother had been clear sighted and recognized Artemis for just who she was. He had begged her with his dying breath to look after Caroline since he couldn't. Artemis had taken pity on him and transformed him into Fang so that he could continue to guard Caroline.

Unable to delay any longer Artemis said, "Hera has a halfblood son who arrived at Camp Halfblood earlier this week. I need access to Camp Halfblood so that I can court him and get him to marry me." Artemis paused for a second to look at her hunter's shocked and fearful looks. All of them knew about the bet as it had previously been a source of pride at how their mistress had outwitted the Whore.

Daphne spoke up, "What about your vow my Lady? There are other options than this." Immediately Daphne started to think about where she could get 42 doses of hemlock.

Knowing her hunter's thoughts, Artemis slammed her fist on the arm of her chair. "I have considered everything for the past 2 years and I have decided that this is the best option. As much as I treasure my maidenhood, I cannot and will not sacrifice you all for it! Having to get married and keeping you all as my companions is infinitely better than staying free and alone. I refuse to have Aphrodite or let some misplaced sense of loyalty rob me of my friends and my daughters."

Despite the numbness that Artemis's announcement brought to the hunters, it also brought them warmth. All of the hunters stared up at their goddess in adoration. Every last one of them loved Artemis like she was their mother, but they never dared to hope that she would feel the same way to them. Tears threatened to spring from their eyes their minds comprehended just how far she was willing to go for them. Suddenly something in the hunters snapped and they all lunged at Artemis accidentally pushing her off of her chair. To the goddess's complete surprise, she was suddenly at the bottom of a massive group hug/ dog pile.

The love and care of her hunters brought a tear to Artemis. Part of her had feared that her children would be furious and disgusted with her over what she planned to do. Like her, every one of her hunters took a dim view on someone breaking a vow. The hunters could never attack Artemis for planning to break a major vow if they had wished to do so; their bond of allegiance to her would kill any hunter who maliciously attacked Artemis. Thankfully, the goddess had never had to test this aspect of her companions' oath. Even though the hunters couldn't physically attack their lady, they could have hated her and that would have been even worse to Artemis than if they had stabbed her with their knives.

Eventually the hunters disentangled themselves from the dog pile and slowly returned to their old seats. Once the hunters were seated, Zoe spoke up in an uneasy tone. "My Lady, how do you want us to help you in this particular hunt?"

Artemis bit her lip in nervousness as she thought about her lieutenant's request. "I'm not entirely sure Zoe. All I ask is that you treat Naruto as a friendly acquaintance. If you can honestly become his friend that would make me happy. However, I will accept it if you all can only tolerate him. For a boy he is supposed to be halfway decent which is better than I could expect given the anger I've apparently drawn from the Fates."

Caroline spoke up. "Do you want us to deter the girls at Camp from going after him?"

Artemis shook her head. "That should not be necessary Caroline. In fact, it may even be detrimental to my cause if that happens. It is my intention to slowly convince Naruto he will want to be with me rather than a mortal woman. It will be difficult as I cannot move too slowly or he may fall for someone else. On the other hand, I cannot move too fast and risk him finding out just how much I need to marry him. Even if he is a semi-decent boy there is too much risk of those good qualities evaporating in this situation." Artemis and all the goddesses knew that because of Thetis's 'curse' by Zeus to only marry mortal men. The curse drove Thetis to remarry within a generation of her current husband's passing and even with her experience in husband hunting she only managed to get a good one every fourth marriage or so.

* * *

Several hours later at Camp Halfblood, Hera's time to spend with Naruto was nearly up. To her surprise and enjoyment, Naruto managed to rope the Ares and Hephaestus campers into a game of dodgeball that they played with him and Hera. Many of the other campers had just spent their time watching the dodgeball game in shock. It was hard for them, especially many of Athena's children, to reconcile the joyfully laughing and apparently fun loving 'Grandma' with the image of the stern and almost ruthless Queen of Olympus.

Currently, the dodgeball game was wrapping up with Hera and Clarisse on one team against Naruto on the other. Naruto threw the ball at Hera who quickly dodged it. She then caught it, passed it Clarisse, and before Naruto could realize it his niece threw the ball hitting him in the shoulder. As soon as Naruto realized he was out he decided to have some fun by twilling around on his foot as if from the force of the blow and then fell to the ground. From the ground, Naruto opened one eye and smiled as Clarisse jumped up to give Hera a high five.

Hera returned the high five and immediately used her free arm to capture Clarisse into a hug. A small smile appeared on Naruto's face when he saw the joy on his mother's face. He then got up and called out, "Good game everyone. Can we do another one and if so how do we want to do the teams?"

There was a touch of sadness in Hera's voice as she called out, "I'm sorry son, but you'll have to count me out for the next round. My visiting time for the week is almost up."

Clarisse cut in, "Why do you have to leave Grandma? Can't you stay for dinner?"

Hera gently put her granddaughter down on the ground and then gently placed her hands on the girl's shoulders. "I'm sorry dear, but my mortal nature only lets me bend divine rules so much before I get into trouble. Besides, I need to get home to prepare dinner or your father will go hungry. You don't want you father to be seen as weak because his belly is empty now do you?"

Clarisse shook her head and replied, "No way Grandma. My father is the toughest god on Olympus and no one should doubt that!"

A small chuckle escaped Hera's lips when she heard Clarisse's response. It was refreshing for her to play with young children. Divine children typically matured in a matter of months and it had been centuries since one had been born. Embracing her mortal nature made ending each visit that it allowed very painful as mortal feelings were more vivid than divine feelings. She figured that mortal emotions were more forceful because of their intrinsically short nature. It made Hera wished that some of the rules regarding parental interaction with halfbloods could be relaxed. However, she would never say that as she knew the results of that would cause far more pain and problems.

Hera let Clarisse go and walked over to give Naruto a hug. After she did this the goddess looked at her son and grandchildren. With a sigh Hera said, "I have to leave now, but I'll be back to visit next week. Just remember that even though we aren't allowed to visit you all often, I and the other Olympians do keep an eye out for our children." Hera then left the camp using the Shunshin jutsu leaving behind a small cloud of peacock feathers. While the ninja technique wouldn't let her go back to Olympus, it did allow her to leave for a safe place to teleport back without hurting anyone.

Sullen faces appeared on campers who had spent the past four hours playing with their grandmother. Her departure brought back an emptiness that they hadn't been aware of previously. Naruto was the only one okay with his mother leaving since he had become used to the short weekly visits and treasured them for the gifts they were.

Chiron could see mood of the camp falling and decided to put a stop to that. He quickly trotted onto the dodgeball field and said, "I was planning on telling you all this at dinner, but I suppose I can tell you all now since everyone is gathered here. The first capture the flag game of the summer session is scheduled for next Thursday. Tomorrow morning we will have the drawing of lots to decide which cabins shall start us off as the flag holders." Just as Chiron had hoped, his announcement quickly raised everyone's spirits. In his long centuries as a teacher Chiron had never found a halfblood who wouldn't have his or her mood brighten by a competitive game.

* * *

Later on that night, Naruto received a rather disturbing dream. The dream started off with Naruto looking at a blinding column of light. The light was too bright for Naruto's eyes and he was forced to close his eyes. After what seemed like an eternity, the intensity of the light diminished and then faded. Eventually, Naruto was able to force his eyes opened and he saw four cloaked figures standing in front of the pillar. It was the shadow of one of the figures that allowed the young demigod to open his dream eyes. One of the shadowy figures turned to look at Naruto, but he couldn't watch as the column of light grew too bright again for him to see.

For the next few minutes Naruto felt his dream-self tumbling about like a tumbleweed trapped in a hurricane. It was as if the column of light had launched him into the air. Desperately, Naruto tried to grab onto something in a vain attempt to orient his dream self. The tumbling got so bad and continued for so long that the young demigod started to wonder if it was possible to throw up in dream. Thankfully he didn't have to pursue that line of thought as the tumbling started to slow down.

When the world stopped spinning, Naruto opened his eyes to find himself standing in an almost otherworldly beautiful garden. The dream vision quickly focused Naruto's sight on a couple that was walking through the garden. The lady in the vision was a true beauty with cinnamon skin and fertile soil dark hair which had dozens of different flowers woven into the locks. Her regal dress looked like it was composed of every type of tree leaf known to man. She radiated a motherly aura and every plant seemed to become more vivid and beautiful in her presence. Although Naruto had never read a physical description of her before, he knew that she had to be the primordial goddess Gaia.

Once Naruto had this realization, his vision turned to focus on her companion who had to be Ouranos. His great grandfather was in every sense of the word a perfect noble king. The power rolling off of him tasted of justice and nobility which threw Naruto for a loop. Wasn't Ouranos supposed to be monstrous uncaring brute or had that just been propaganda on the Titans part? Only the vaguest of generalities about the Titan's era was known and the time of Ouranos was at best third hand hearsay. Ouranos was dressed in an archaic designed celestial bronze armor with a purple cloak. Physically, the primordial sky god's body was in perfect condition. His face had a full beard with just a touch of grey in his hair making his looks distinguished.

A few feet behind the royal couple was a vast procession of spirits in the form of various animals. Naruto spotted a young Sk'elep in the procession and was shocked to see his teacher in the vision. The almost endless stream of processionals continued to past by Naruto's dream self until they became a numbing stream of bodies. Eventually the procession finished passing by Naruto and he suddenly found himself dragged behind it by whatever force was controlling the vision. He curiously watched as the procession winded through the garden which proved to be far larger than expected.

Eventually the procession left the garden and passed through a mighty gateway in a blindingly brilliant wall. The vision started to get real blurry for Naruto at this point as his surroundings started to blur into each other. He got the impression that he was within a great citadel, but that was only an instinctive impression. To make things even worse for Naruto, the procession seemed to pick up its pace causing him to be pulled down the winding streets even more disoriented.

Things finally cleared up in the vision for Naruto when he found himself standing in a grand throne room. He was mixed into a crowd of spirit animals who were standing in the audience area of the throne room. Ouranos and Gaia were each seated on a throne of gold, silver, and precious gems set in a masterpiece of craftsmanship. The crowd quickly divided so that there was a path from the thrones to the gold inlaid doors at the far end of the room.

Soon enough, the great doors of the throne room opened to reveal three figures. The first was a tall man with flaming red hair and a long red beard. He was dressed in an almost silvery metal armor and gave off the aura of a powerful warrior. In the middle of the trio was a tan man with the head of a ram. He was dressed a white linen kilt that was heavily ornamented and an elaborate jeweled necklace. Finally, the third figure was a beautiful woman with four arms. She was dressed in an elaborate sari and held a lotus in one hand.

The three people walked down the aisle to the thrones and were met at the end of the courtiers by Ouranos and Gaia. Ouranos quickly gave the red headed warrior and then the ram headed person a friendly arm grasp while Gaia happily embraced the four armed woman. Naruto couldn't hear what the group was saying and for some reason he wasn't able to read their lips even though he could see them clearly. The conversation started off pleasant enough, but the atmosphere in the room started to become dark and foreboding. Eventually the conversation ended and the three figures walked back down the aisle and went through the doors.

Naruto was pulled closer to his great-grandparents and saw that something had shaken them terribly. Gaia looked like she was on the verge of collapsing from terror and pain. Tears were freely falling down her cheeks. Ouranos was trying to project an aura of calmness to reassure everyone, but Naruto could sense that he was worried about whatever he had been told. At the last moment of the vision Ouranos turned to face where Naruto was standing as if the ancient deity could see Naruto's dream self. Naruto got a clear view of Ouranos's eyes and his own widened in shock. The ancient deity's eyes were the same mutated Rinnegan like eyes he had seen years ago in a previous vision.


End file.
